It Was You
by Shakko
Summary: He's in a gang, she's the school's homework tool and personal punching bag for the other girls, what if they were to be thrown together for a school project? Will he leave her to do all the work or will they grow closer together? Rating may change as story goes on, so far it is staying as a T though
1. The Assignment

**Disclaimer: **_**Okay, latest obsession XD I love the Resident Evil series and Jake and Sherry are by far my favourite pairing next to Leon and Ada. So as can be guessed I do own Resident Evil 6 and am currently playing through Jake and Sherry's Campaign for like the tenth time and I am catching lil details I missed my first play through so hopefully I can capture their attitudes in this fan fiction even though it has been ages since I uploaded something and for that I apologize, just had things going on then my laptop died (again) and I lost everything from it but I have a new laptop as of a year ago so it'll probably last longer along with the fact I also have an external hard drive so no losing anything xD. Anywho, this is a different take on Sherry and Jake as it is a high school fic and nothing of the supernatural kind but hey, I'll try to make up for that :3 also I do not own Resident Evil or it's characters.**_

**Summary: **_**He's in a gang, she's the school's homework tool and personal punching bag for the other girls, what if they were to be thrown together for a school project? Will he leave her to do all the work or will they grow closer together?**_

As the sun rose a young figure lay silently under her bed covers, enjoying the feel of the rising sun's rays on her face as her alarm cracked into life hoping to wake the female from her slumber but was outmatched by her internal clock as a pair of gray-blue eyes opened as soon as the first beep left the machine. With a groan the blonde sat up and stretched her arms above her head, her cream tank top lifting slightly to show the pale flesh of her stomach before she swept her duvet off her petite body revealing her grey boy shorts to go with the rest of her night outfit. The blonde made her way over toward her wardrobe and opened it to reveal a wide variety of clothing with everything set by matching sets of clothing, she quickly grabbed her favourite outfit of an off white shirt, blue shirt, black leggings and cream coat with a fur rim and laid the outfit out on her bed.

The blonde then made her way into her bathroom where she continued with her morning routine of brushing her teeth, fixing her pixie cut hair into some sort of a style and lightly applying a see through lip gloss that would no doubt wear off as the day went on.

"Sherry, are you up!?" A male voice came from outside the door as it followed a light knocking.

"Yes father!" Sherry called back, finishing in the bathroom and looking through her drawers for underwear to go with her outfit for the day but knew it wouldn't really make a difference so she just grabbed the first couple of items that her hand fell upon.

"Breakfast is almost finished, be sure to get it while its still warm!" Her father's voice called from the other side of the door before the sound of heavy footsteps left the door.

The blonde quickly got dressed, fixing the collar of her shirt and wrapping the scarf lightly around it like a make shift tie before looking at the mountain of homework that her 'classmates' had 'nicely' asked her to do for them, she had learnt the hard way that saying no was not an option as far as they were concerned and would often end up in her whole week being made into a hell until she said yes, however, just because she said yes didn't mean she was going to let them get straight A's, she always made sure they would get a C at most and even though it meant she would be slammed into the lockers a couple of times or bullied in P.E she was willing to live with that. Eventually the blonde had finished getting dressed and grabbed her backpack filled with papers, books and homework for both herself and others. She gave herself a once over before racing out her bedroom door and made her way downstairs, placing her backpack beside the front door to grab on the way out and made her way into the kitchen, gently leaning over her father in his chair and lightly kissing his cheek before sitting down to her meal of scrambled egg and toast that her father had made them. She quickly dug in but made sure to savour every bite, making each one last a little longer than the other, an old and odd habit of hers but she enjoyed savouring every meal she had as no two meals were the same.

As Sherry was finishing the last of her meal she was interrupted by two voices coming from outside of her front door, she gave a light sigh and shake of her head before digging into the last few forkfuls of her scrambled egg just as the front door was opened and a fiery red headed female walked in followed by a much taller brunette male as the two continued to bicker over something so trivial as of to who the red head was with at this moment.

"Good morning Claire, Chris." Sherry's father said, not once looking up from his paper.

"Good morning Mr Birkin." The two replied, the red head glaring intently at the older male as she stomped off to sit beside Sherry with a scowl.

"How did your date go last night Claire?" Sherry asked, finally swallowing the last of her egg and turning to face the red head.

"It went fine until a certain someone came home earlier than he was supposed to and has been throwing a hissy just because he caught me kissing a guy." Claire stated sharply as she glared at the male again, if looks could kill he'd be long gone.

"Well maybe you should learn to keep control of your hormones on a first date." The male said, leaning back against the kitchen cabinet with his arms folded. "So, are you ladies ready to leave or what?"

"Yes, we are ready to leave. Thank you again for the lift Chris." Sherry said, standing up and placing her plate in the dishwasher.

"I keep telling you Sher, stop thanking me, it's no bother at all." Chris said and headed toward the front door, stopping only to grab Sherry's bag and carry it out to his jeep where he placed it in the backseat with the two girl's following behind him as Claire hopped into the front beside him and Sherry into the back with her bag.

"That bag seems to be close to exploding Sherry, more people asking for you to do their homework?" Claire asked, turning in her seat to speak with Sherry while Chris reversed out of the Birkin's driveway and made his way to Sherry's school.

"Well, yeah, but it beats going home with bruises." Sherry stated as she fingered a pattern into her bag as she kept her gaze low.

"I already told you Sher, stop letting them get to you, you are stronger than that and it is about time you showed it." Chris said, looking briefly into the rear view mirror as they pulled up to a stop at the traffic lights. Sherry only nodded her head lightly as she continued to look down, until the roar of a motorbike pulled her out of her thoughts at a jump as she turned toward the roar and saw the reason for it. Beside them was a very recognisable red bike being ridden by none other than Jake Muller, all around bad boy of the school as he turned his head to glance in the direction of the jeep only to earn a glare from Chris, this caused the other male to smirk and turn back to the lights, revving his motorbike as the light turned from red to green as he took off with a wheelie before the bike was back on both wheels as he sped off earning a couple of choice curse words from Chris. "That boy is going to get himself in a lot of trouble if he's not careful."

"Well at least he is allowed to have a life." Claire retorted as she continued to stare out the side of the jeep.

"You are allowed to have one also, just not with that random guy that you had one date with." Chris stated as he pulled up outside of Sherry's school for the younger girl to hop out. Sherry quickly placed her bag over her shoulder and climbed out of the jeep, getting a hug from each Redfield over the jeep's doors along with a light ruffling of her hair from Chris. "Take care Sherry and remember, don't take any nonsense. If anything happens just let us know okay?"

"I know Chris, don't worry." Sherry replied with a small grin at her brother figure as she tightened her grip on her bag and looked out toward the group of students waiting on their homework that they had got her to do, it was mostly the popular ones who believed themselves too good to do homework. "Besides, these girls probably wouldn't want to fight for fear of breaking a nail."

"Be that as it may but still be careful, prissy girls are always the worst." Claire stated.

"Just keep your head held high and don't start any fights, see you after school." Chris added, putting the car into gear as he got ready to pull away.

"See you guys then, have a good day at work." Sherry said, giving a light wave of her hand as Chris started to drive off, the two siblings waving in reply. When she was certain that they were gone Sherry turned her attention to the crowd of students and gave a sigh, hanging her head low as she made her way toward the group, making sure to keep a tight grip on her bag.

"What took you so long? We have been waiting here for ages for our homework." One of the girl's stated, a cold glare on her face as her perfectly manicured fingernails drummed lightly on the opposite arm.

"Well if you did it yourself maybe you wouldn't have to wait." Sherry mumbled, opening her bag and grabbing the folder filled with the groups homework, she handed over the file for them to sort through and began to shift uncomfortably on the spot as she always felt uncomfortable about these transactions right in front of the school, she always felt as if they could be caught at a moment's notice.

"What was that? You better not be making a snide remark unless you would like to spend most of the day between lessons in the lockers." The girl basically snarled out but quickly changed her attitude and thrust the folder back into Sherry's hands as she began to flick her hair out and smile at the male leading a group of other males behind him. "Hey Jake." She called, waving at the one in front, showing off her perfectly white teeth as the red head turned to her and merely gave her a nod before his steely gaze landed on Sherry, giving a quick eyebrow raise in confusion wondering why she was here when she clearly didn't fit in with this group of people. The confusion was gone as quickly as it had arrived as he faced forward again and continued on his journey, when he was out of sight the other girl snatched the folder away from Sherry's grasp and grabbed all of the homework out of it, handing it to the others of the group.

"Thanks, hope to do business with you again." The girl said, waving her hand for Sherry to leave to which the blonde gave a cold glare at the ground as she turned to head for her first class, it was still early but she liked the peace of an empty classroom. Sherry entered the science room, sure she would be alone but was surprised when she saw the science teacher in the room, reading over some paperwork but glancing up when he heard the door open.

"Ah, Miss Birkin, early as ever. Don't let me stop you, I'll only be here a moment." Her teacher said, going back to his paperwork.

"Its no problem Professor." Sherry replied moving to her temporary seat at the back of the room beside the window, she would move before the bell would ring but until then she enjoyed sitting beside the cool window while reading one of the many books within the science room. She placed her bag beside the chair she was currently planning on occupying and went to look through the selection of books when the door was opened with a slight bang and none other than Jake Muller was dragged in by one of the teacher's who looked ready to murder him, Jake snatched his arm back and glared at the teacher who glared in return.

"Mr Burton, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Professor Simmons asked, looking up once again from his paperwork. "I see you have found one of my students that hasn't been here in quite some time."

"Yes, well I found him outside at the bleacher's with the rest of his gang smoking, thought I would escort him to his classroom bright and early." Mr Burton replied, glaring at Jake who only scoffed and sat down on his regular seat which just so happened to be in front of the seat that Sherry had planned on using for reading.

"Smoking isn't a crime Mr Burton, to some it's a way of life." Jake said sarcastically.

"While you are at this school then you will not be doing it on the school grounds, do that on your own time off the grounds, is that clear Mr Muller?" Mr Burton asked, folding his arms.

"Whatever you say, sir." Jake retorted, placing his feet upon his desk as Sherry tried her best to not pay attention to everything around that had interrupted her usually peaceful mornings, the young blonde took her seat and quickly buried her head into the book hoping to not draw any attention.

"Keep that attitude up kid and you'll be finding yourself spending your days after school with me in detention." Mr Burton threatened until Professor Simmons interrupted.

"I have a suggestion. It should keep him out of trouble for the rest of the year." Professor Simmons offered, hands folded neatly over his work as he looked toward Mr Burton.

"Shoot."

"Well, how about an assignment? To be completed by the end of the second term, it should keep him out of trouble until the time is up."

"I can live with that, should certainly help." Mr Burton said after thinking it over for a couple of minutes. "But how will you be sure he'll do it?"

"Easy, place him with my best student, Sherry. She'll keep him in line, won't you Sherry?" Professor Simmons asked as he looked at the young blonde who looked up in shock from behind her book.

"W-what?" Sherry asked, eyes wide like a deer caught in headlights unsure whether she had heard her teacher correctly.

"Would you be willing to help Mr Muller in his assignment? I had been planning the assignment for quite some time and everyone will be getting it, you will just have a partner and head start upon everyone else."

"Well I certainly don't see the problem in it, it is basically an easy A for anyone who works with the brainiac." Jake stated, glancing back briefly at Sherry who lowered her gaze to try and hide away inside of herself.

"Of course sir, I don't mind." Sherry answered quietly, keeping her gaze low and away from the two teachers and male in front of her.

"Well then that settles it, you two will decide on a topic amongst each other in terms of which science you would like to study and then write an essay, make a presentation and make a sculpture or experiment to do with your studying, for example if you are doing Biology then perhaps something to do with DNA, you have until the end of the second term to complete it, then and only then will I accept the work, no sooner or later. I want a perfectly worded essay, nothing short of it am I clear you two?" Professor Simmons asked as he glanced at the two teens, earning nods from both of them. "Very good, you may begin now."

"So, how do we do this?" Jake asked, turning slightly in his seat to get a better look at Sherry as she hid behind her Physics book.

"What do you mean? We do as the professor wants and work together to do the assignment." Sherry stated plainly in a quiet voice as she continued to read, not bothering to look up only to have her book stolen from her.

"I heard some things around the school about you doing other peoples assignments." Jake began to flick through the book, his steely blue eyes scanning each page in a bored fashion.

"Well if you heard it correctly it is usually those who are so incompetent that they resort to bullying to get what they want if need be." Sherry made a grab for the book, scowling as the red head moved the book further from her grasp.

"Really? So those prissy bitches are basically making you their lapdog to do all their homework and get them straight A's is that it?" Jake asked, watching the blonde carefully from the corner of his eyes.

"Hardly, more like straight C's, they don't deserve to have A's and even a C is generous." Sherry reached for the book again, this time basically lunging at it as she snatched it back from Jake, catching his smirk at her comment before opening the book back to the page she had been reading before the book had been stolen.

"Well, guess they deserve it. So, what's our subject?" Jake closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair.

"What is your best Science subject? Any subject is fine with me." Sherry replied, glancing up briefly from her book to look at him.

"How about Chemistry then?" Jake suggested keeping his eyes closed as he placed his feet on the desk and pushing his seat back farther to lean against the wall behind him.

"Hmm, a subject that can be either extremely easy or extraordinarily hard depending on what side of Chemistry you want to do, interesting decision." Sherry said, thinking over the many sides of Chemistry.

"Well I like a challenge." Steely blue eyes opened to look over at the grey-blue of Sherry's.

"I see, so when shall we begin?" She asked, trying to keep her gaze from meeting his.

"After school tomorrow sound good?"

"Sure, that is fine with me. Your place or mine?"

"Yours, mine isn't really in the condition for visitors."

"Fine, I'll let my father know about the company tonight." Sherry looked briefly at the clock and her eyes widened as she grabbed the book and her bag, quickly replacing the book in its original position before moving to her regular seat at the middle of the room as Jake let out a smirk at the blonde as she made it look like she just hadn't been sitting at the back of the room.

The classroom slowly started to fill up as the other students entered the room and soon began to get their assignment from Professor Simmons, most of them asked Sherry but she turned them all down, stating she already had a partner. When they realised they couldn't get Sherry as a partner and would turn their attention to the other students with a higher IQ than themselves except for miss prissy, Ashley Graham whom was currently trying to talk Jake into leaving whomever his partner was to work with her instead, it caused Sherry to roll her eyes and get back to reading the book she had retrieved from her bag though when she heard the second blonde begin to raise her voice she knew it wasn't good. The two had been enemies since day one and from the sound of the raising voice it would appear that Ashley had heard about who Jake was partners with so Sherry was not surprised when the hand came down and swiped her book from her hands, causing her to raise her gaze and meet the flaming hazel eyes of Ashley which only caused Sherry to glare in return.

"Excuse me for being so rude but I was reading that book, now if you don't mind releasing it and going to find a partner then I would like to be alone." Sherry stated, keeping a close eye on the book in case Ashley did something to the book.

"I'll leave you alone when you drop Jake as a partner." Ashley replied, glaring at Sherry as she lightly scrapped the book cover.

"Its not my decision, Professor Simmons put us together." Sherry started to get up from her seat, getting ready to get her book if she saw so much as a scratch upon it.

"Well then talk to him about getting someone else he is your Godfather isn't he?" Ashley asked in a snarl.

"I will not ask him for your own personal gain, just because your father is one of the richest men in this city it doesn't mean you can get everything you want so how about giving me that book Ashley and leaving me alone." Sherry was now standing to her full height, which was only a couple centimetres shorter than Ashley.

"Ladies, calm down, there's plenty of me to go around so no need to fight." Jake said, grabbing the book from behind Ashley and handing it back to Sherry who gratefully took it and held it to her chest.

"But Jake, this is not a fight, it is merely a disagreement of opinions. Isn't that right Sherry?" Ashley said in an all too sweet voice the moment Jake joined in.

"Sure, the fact that all you want is to be a prissy little bitch because you can't get what you want while I am merely trying to read a book." Sherry folded her arms tightly around her book as she continued to glare at Ashley.

"I would hardly call it being prissy." Ashley managed to say through clenched teeth but looked about ready to kill Sherry.

"Oh sorry, where you come from it's known as spoilt isn't it?" Sherry snapped out having had enough of this conversation.

"Why you little -" Ashley was caught off as Jake extended an arm between the two females, acting like a barrier.

"Come on girls this isn't the place for this sort of thing so how about we just leave it, Ashley there is no chance of getting Simmons to change his mind on the pairing so just drop it. How about next time?" Jake offered having got tired of the female bickering.

"Fine but I'm holding you to that." Ashley said as she glared at Sherry one last time before turning to Jake and smiling as she sauntered off, making sure to shake her hips alluringly.

"That girl is a real bitch." Sherry mumbled as she basically threw herself into her chair, looking at the clock and groaning when she realised there wasn't even a point in opening her book again, it was almost time to leave.

"Actually I was about ready to ask for popcorn when the whole thing started, it was almost as exciting as the time you two fought about that cop and his friend, the one you get a ride with everyday." Jake said, leaning against the desk in front of Sherry, folding his arms lightly.

"Glad our arguments amuse you." Sherry scowled at the male before lowering her head to rest in her folded arms.

"They do, you can be quite feisty when angered can't you?" Jake raised an eyebrow as he stared at the female before him as she lightly raised her head and glared at him.

"Whatever." Sherry lowered her head again only for the bell to go off, she gave a sigh and sat up straight, grabbing her book from the table and placing it within her bag as she stood up, placing the bag strap across her shoulder. "Talk to you tomorrow then when we discuss our project." With that said Sherry made her way past Jake and out the door, nodding a goodbye to Professor Simmons and made her way toward the bleachers for break where hopefully she could get to reading more than six pages of her book.

The sun continued to bear down upon the school grounds as Sherry took off her jacket and placed it beside her on the bleachers, taking out her book and iPod as she got as comfortable as she could on the bleachers, opening her book and began to read while chewing lightly on an apple that she had packed as part of her lunch for the day. Sherry lightly hummed along to the song on her iPod as her foot lightly twitched to the tune while her eyes scanned each page of her book, by the time her break was over she was almost half way through and was just finishing the last of her apple when the bell rang signalling that she had five minutes to get to her next class. She quickly packed up her items and made her way to English hoping that the day would be over soon as she managed to slink past Ashley and her lap dogs on her way there, knowing they had been waiting for quite some time for her but not wanting to find out what for as Ashley looked fit to kill.

As the day passed on Sherry made sure to stay well away from Ashley and crew, often heading out the door of her classes with her head down in a crowd of other students so as not to be seen, she even managed to evade Jake and his crowd so as to not get Ashley anymore bitchy than she was already though that wasn't hard, the girl would always throw a tantrum when she didn't get what she want and right now what she wanted was Jake. Sherry gave a low sigh as she felt herself relaxing at the sound of the final bell as she stretched her arms out in front of her before standing up, hoping to get out this place as quickly as possible when she spotted Claire's red jacket over by the entrance of the school as if she had been there for awhile, she waved lightly over to Sherry when she spotted her looking, Sherry waved in reply and smiled knowing she wouldn't have to walk to the police station alone today but curious to why Claire was here when she should be at university. The History teacher then dismissed his class for the day without once looking up as everyone piled out the door, everyone except Sherry that is as she decided to hold back and leave at the end of the crowd of students fighting to get through the door to get into the fresh air and do as they pleased for the rest of the day. Sherry made her way toward the entrance, smiling at Claire as she came into view and sped up her pace until she was standing in front of the older girl who was quite happily leaning against one of the posts outside of the school.

"Claire, what are you doing here? Not that I'm ungrateful but I'm just wondering." Sherry asked, giving the older girl a hug in greeting.

"I'm training to be a teacher remember. So I asked if I could do my work experience here for a year or two." Claire hugged the younger girl in return before they both turned and headed down the steps, chatting away until Sherry spotted Ashley flirting away with Jake as he seemed to not be paying attention to anything she was saying, instead his gaze was fixed squarely on Sherry who lowered her head slightly and tried her best to ignore the intensity of his gaze.

"That's excellent, so you are going to be here for two years?" Sherry looked back up at Claire as the older girl was now staring at Jake with a raised eyebrow.

"I didn't think guys with short, cropped hair were your type Sherry." Claire said thoughtfully as she continued to stare at Jake who had now turned his attention back to Ashley, an annoyed expression appearing on his face.

"Can we not talk about it, he is just my science partner that is all." Sherry stated defensively and folded her arms tightly around herself before giving Claire a light shove with her left shoulder, knocking the older girl out of her stare. "Come on, Chris is probably wondering why I'm not at the station yet."

"Fine but I will get answers later is that clear?" Claire linked her arm with the younger girls and lightly started to drag her along as the two set off, unaware of eyes watching them go.


	2. Memories

**Disclaimer: **_**Well, still happily playing through Jake's Campaign when I get the chance xD even planning to make a JakexSherry video when I have all the cut scenes rendered and maybe some gameplay of them helping each other up and such :3 but so far only have cut scenes XD. Well I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter and that you will enjoy this chapter just as much :3 I'm also looking a beta reader for this and any other JakexSherry fanfics I plan to write so just leave me a comment or a PM and I'll get back to you as soon as possible, well enjoy.**_

_**As per usual I do not own Resident Evil or any of its characters, that all belongs to Capcom.**_

As Claire and Sherry reached the police station a tall blonde made his way out toward a police car, stopping suddenly as he almost walked into the two females.

"Oh, sorry ladies." The male said, about to walk past them.

"On your way to a case Leon?" Claire asked, arms folded as she scowled at the fact he appeared to have ignored them as his blue eyes looked up in shock at the voice.

"Claire, Sherry, pleasant surprise. Yes I am about to head off on a case, that thief again" Leon ran a hand through his blonde hair as a couple of the strands fell across his right side to look like bangs. "Chris is out on a different case at the moment with one of the rookies so make yourselves comfortable in there." He stepped to the side, allowing the two females to walk into the station.

"Thank you Leon, we shall and good luck on your case." Sherry said with a smile and a nod before heading into the station, holding the door open for Claire to follow her inside.

"Thanks Leon, as Sherry said good luck on your mission. Hopefully you'll catch that thief soon." Claire followed behind Sherry into the station.

"Thanks girls, see you later." Leon continued on his way to the his car, hopping in and taking off to the crime scene.

Sherry and Claire both sat at a table together, chewing softly at some chocolate that Claire had got on their way here, Sherry was doing her homework surprised that no one had asked to do their's today while Claire was working on her course work for Uni. The two sat in a mutual silence with nothing other than the ticking clock and a tv down the hall giving off sound while they waited for Chris, it was like this most days for Sherry so it didn't bother her too much but knew it was eating at Claire, she loved to gossip with her friends and wasn't much of the silent type. Claire sighed rather unhappily at the silence, lightly tapping the desk over and over with her pen as she watched out the window for any sign of Chris coming back as Sherry finally finished her Maths homework, stretching her hands out in front of her as she looked to the different sets of homework she had completed and wondered how she was going to go about the Science assignment with Jake, wondering if he would leave everything up to her while he lazed around or would he be willing to help out also.

"So, about this assignment with you and the boy watching us before we left, what is it about?" Claire asked, turning her attention toward Sherry.

"Professor Simmons gave us the assignment, he felt I was the best choice for keeping him out of trouble but it means I have to stick his presence for two terms so Ashley Graham is throwing a hissy over it." Sherry lightly played with a strand of short hair, twirling it between her fingers.

"Ashley… That is the girl who you were fighting with last year for flirting with Leon wasn't it?" Claire asked as she tried to trace her memory back that far.

"That would be her, she always wants the 'best' boyfriend and since Jake is everyone's latest heartthrob then she wants him all to herself." Sherry explained, huffing lightly.

"Ah, typical 'I deserve the best and only the best so none of you can have it.' Alas, this world is full of people like that but at least we are more controlled than that." Claire shook her head lightly.

"Yes, thank goodness for that." Sherry gave a small smile as she sat back in her chair.

"So what do you think of this Jake?" Claire asked, leaning over the table with a smile, wanting all the truth.

"He thinks he is too cool for school but, then again, he has always been like that." Sherry looked up towards the ceiling, as she gave a sigh and closed her eyes.

"You mean you knew him before this!?" Claire now looked as if she was about to smack Sherry for not telling her this.

"Mhmm, a couple of times as kids when his mother and father were talking, I don't think he remembers though but when his father came over to work with my father he would bring Jake and we would play in the backyard while our father's talked about a project they were working on. Eventually though Jake's parents started to fight and then his father began to want nothing to do with him so he never came back even though his father was always at our house, I remember my father talking with him about it but he couldn't be talked into reason." Sherry gave another sigh before looking over at Claire who looked about ready to kill her for keeping this information hidden.

"How could you keep this from me? What type of little sister are you keeping all this news from me." Claire scowled as she huffed away from Sherry, pretending to give her the silent treatment.

"Well I never thought it would of use to say anything, besides, I don't think he remembers it…" Sherry began to lower her gaze to the ground as the memories came back of her and Jake playing at her house, him pushing her on the swings she used to own or, in the summer, playing in the shallow end of the pool.

"That is no reason." Claire scowled again as she glared at the younger girl. "So who was his father anyway? Anyone I might know?"

"Yes, though he hasn't been at my house for quite some time since he and my father finished their project years ago." Sherry looked up briefly with her eyes, watching Claire who was now drumming her fingers against her chin.

"That hardly lowers it down, I need a name." Claire said, still drumming her fingers against her chin.

"Albert Wesker." Sherry looked up completely now, placing her arms on the table and folding them to place her chin atop them.

"What? No way is he Wesker's son, the only thing that remotely looks similar between them is Jake's build." Claire was now gaping, not believing it to be true as Sherry just nodded.

"Yeah, I know. Jake took mostly after his mother in most of the aspects, only his eyes, build, speed and strength come from his father." Sherry moved her head to hide it in her crossed arms, giving a light sigh as she closed her eyes.

"Wow, hard to believe that about Wesker, no one knew he had a kid." Claire said in wonder as she stared straight ahead, unable to believe it. Her train of thought was soon broken as she turned toward the door, hearing it open as she spotted Chris helping the rookie through the door. "What happened with you guys?"

"Slipped and fell, its just a sprain." Chris helped the rookie sit down on one of the chair's and went to the office phone, dialling the number for an ambulance while said rookie sat back in the chair, wincing as he moved his foot even the smallest bit.

"Wow, bad luck dude. First day on the job?" Claire looked over at the new cop, having not seen him before. His short, brown hair lightly spiked at the front as he raised his gaze toward Claire, his chocolate brown eyes scanning between the two girls.

"Yes ma'am." He said, watching the two females.

"What is your name?" Claire asked, not moving from her seat with Sherry.

"Piers, Piers Nivans." He answered, lightly biting his lip when he accidentally moved his foot when trying to get in a better position.

"Well, there are worse first days. Leon had a bad first day here, got shot in the leg. I blame my brother." Claire gave a sigh and a shake of her head, throwing her hands lightly in the air.

"Now don't go blaming me, the rookies need to learn to fend for themselves, that bullet hardened Leon and now he's off doing cases by himself." Chris said, his arms folded as he leaned against the doorframe, Sherry gave out a giggle as Claire's face paled having been caught talking about Chris behind his back.

"Um…" Claire turned away, refusing to look at Chris as the older Redfield smirked, turning his attention back to Piers.

"The ambulance will be here in a couple of minutes, they are going to take you in to make sure it isn't broken and give you something to take the swelling down. From now on listen to the doctors before coming back to work, rest that leg. I don't want to see you back here for another couple of weeks, I'll be checking with the hospital to see when you can come back to work and so help you if you come back early." Chris said, moving to stand in front of the younger cop.

"Yes sir, understood." Piers answered, looking up at his commanding officer.

"Good." Chris now turned his attention to Claire and Sherry, Claire was still refusing to look at him while Sherry was giggling. "Right you two, let's go. Time to get Sherry home."

The three all headed out of the station, Sherry holding onto her bag lightly as she felt Claire link arms with her while she in tow linked hers with Chris' arm, all three of them continued this way until they made it to Chris' jeep, sitting in their assigned seats with Chris at the wheel, Claire at his side and Sherry behind Claire as she set her bag lightly beside her on the seat, buckling her seatbelt. Much like every time they are in the car, Claire turned and decided to have a conversation with Sherry.

"So Sherry, what are you going to tell your father about your assignment?" Claire asked, watching the younger girl.

"The truth, Professor Simmons gave me the assignment with Jake and he would be coming over tomorrow." Sherry answered with a light shrug of her shoulders, there were no secrets between her and her father since her mother had passed away.

"You are working on a project tomorrow with that guy on the motorbike? What made you agree to working with him?" Chris asked, keeping his eyes on the road but looking briefly into the rearview mirror to catch Sherry looking down.

"Well, Professor Simmons assigned us as partners and I didn't want to seem rude…" Sherry said with a small voice, knowing Chris didn't approve of this.

"Will you be riding on the back of that bike of his with him or are you still heading to the station after school?"

"I don't know, but I can let you know after school is over or tell Claire to tell you."

"Oh yeah, why were you at the station today Claire? Normally you wait outside of the university until we pick you up." Chris asked as Sherry let out a small breath, glad the conversation was no longer on her.

"I'm doing my work experience at Sherry's school so you can expect me everyday at the station from now on." Claire stated, head held high.

"Oh joys, my life just got better." Chris said sarcastically, earning a huff from Claire as he chuckled lightly.

Sherry giggled at the two interacting, rolling her eyes as she lay her head against the window, closing her eyes as she started to relax within the jeep. With a soft sigh she began to feel herself drifting off toward a light sleep as they continued to drive, Claire and Chris chattering away while all Sherry could do was dream memories of the times with Jake when they were children.

"_Sherry, come here please. I have someone to introduce you to!" Came her father's voice, distracting the young girl from her colouring book._

"_Yes papa!" A much younger Sherry called back, racing from her room with her shoulder length blonde hair gently brushing against her shoulders as she ran. She stepped into the foyer and looked up at the tall blonde man standing with her father_,_ his eyes covered by a pair of sunglasses as he stood tall in his black trench coat._

"_Greetings young miss Birkin." The taller man said, nodding his head lightly toward her._

"_Sherry, this is my work colleague Albert Wesker, he has brought a little friend with him for you to play with." Her father said as the blonde male stood to the side, revealing a young boy around the same age as Sherry with short, cropped orange hair._

"_This is Jake, I want you two to play fairly and no fighting." Wesker said, taking off his trench coat and hanging it up on the coat rack. "Now William, perhaps we should continue our experiment."_

"_Yes Albert, we shall head up to my office. Sherry, why don't you and Jake go play outside, its too nice a day to spend indoors." Her father said, heading toward his office with Wesker._

"_Yes papa!" Sherry called after her father, turning her attention back to the young boy as he looked down at the ground, as if embarrassed to be here. "Come on, let's go outside like papa said." She said, grabbing the boys hand and practically dragging him outside. The boy looked up at their hands, as if in shock when they reached outside, the Summer sun bearing down upon them as they made their way toward the climbing frame, swing set and slide outside of Sherry's home. Sherry stopped in front of her miniature park that her father had got for her after her mother passed away, she looked back at the younger boy, taking in his confused expression at their hands._

"_What's wrong?" She asked, head tilting to the side in curiosity._

"_Why haven't I got cooties? All the other boys say girls have these nasty things called cooties and we get them if we touch girls." Jake said, frowning at their hands as Sherry let out a giggle._

"_That's silly, girls don't have cooties." She said, releasing his hand finally as she raced to her first ever swing, before the mini playground was created, it was just a tyre tied to a tree but it was her favourite thing in the world next to her colouring book._

"_Really?" Jake followed behind Sherry, stopping at the usual old swings beside the tyre swing as Sherry climbed onto the tyre, turning to the boy with a huge smile._

"_Push me please?" She asked, the smile still there as the boy smiled back and raced behind her, beginning to push the tyre as she giggled in happiness. They both took turns on the tyre swing before moving on to the slides, both of them trying out different moves on the poses on their way down until finally their fathers came outside._

"_Sherry, Jake!" Called Sherry's father, looking over at the two children as they were sitting on the climbing frame, chatting happily until they heard the voice. Both children made their way down the climbing frame and quickly made their way over to their fathers, hoping their time together wasn't over._

"_It's time for lunch children, then I am afraid we will only have another couple of minutes before we must go Jake." Wesker said, looking down at the two children._

"_Yes sir." Jake replied, lowering his head when his father mentioned they would be leaving soon._

"_Now, let's head inside and get lunch." Sherry's father said, opening the door as the children ran in together, followed by himself and Wesker as they headed toward the kitchen where peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were waiting for them on the table. Sherry and Jake swiftly pulled out their seats and sat upon them, grabbing a plate of sandwiches each while their father's sat down on either side of the children to eat their own sandwiches. When Sherry and Jake were finished they both quickly hopped off their chairs and ran into the living room, planning to play a hide and seek before Jake had to go. William and Wesker both shook their heads at the children before indulging back into conversation on their project._

_Jake was the first to hide, chosen because he had won the mini race to the door from the seats within the kitchen, he had managed to squeeze himself behind one of the many sofa's in the living room and was currently holding his breath when he heard Sherry finish counting._

"_10, ready or not here I come." Sherry shouted in case Jake hadn't hidden yet, giving him a chance to find somewhere at random as she grinned and went seeking her friend, determined to find him no matter the cost. After looking for five minutes she was sure that her new friend had somehow gone invisible when she heard a small noise, almost like a sneeze, coming from behind one of the sofa's, this caused Sherry to grin again as she ran toward the sofa, climbing onto the back of it and looking down at Jake._

"_Found you." She said with a giggle as Jake looked up in shock._

"_Aw." Jake frowned but crawled out from behind the sofa anyway, turning his back so he was facing the wall and began to count, leaving Sherry to run off and hide herself. She decided to be fair on Jake, since she knew the best hiding places around her home, and hid inside of one of the cabinets, leaving the door with the slightest crack to at least make it a little obvious. Jake turned around from where he had been counting and began to search the room as best he could, scratching the back of his head slightly in confusion when he found no trace of Sherry, spotting his confusion she decided to lightly open the door a little more, barely noticeable but Jake had spotted it and made his way over to the cupboard, opening it to find Sherry curled up inside. "Found you."_

_They both continued with their game until Wesker finally called for Jake, causing the two children to make their way over to the foyer where Wesker was waiting with his trench coat on and holding out a small jacket for Jake. Jake looked sadly at the jacket but took it from his father anyway, putting it on as he turned to say goodbye to Sherry when she suddenly gave him the biggest hug anyone ever had, almost squeezing the life out of him as he hugged her back just as hard._

"_You'll come back, won't you?" Sherry asked as they finally pulled away from the hug, Jake shrugged his shoulders and looked to his father who gave a light nod._

"_Of course Miss Birkin, I will be sure to bring Jake back some other day." Wesker replied, standing with his hand on the door to leave as Jake and Sherry both smiled._

"_Thank you father." Jake said, placing his hands down by his side as he went to stand beside his father. "I'll see you then Sherry."_

"_Yes, see you next time." Sherry walked out the door with her father, Jake and Wesker and watched as Jake and Wesker both got into a car. Jake rolled down the window and half hung out it as he waved to Sherry, who waved in reply with a huge smile on her face._

With a small yawn, Sherry awoke to find herself on a sofa at her house in front of the fire with a blanket around her. She looked around quickly just to make sure it truly was her home before settling down again, knowing that Chris must have carried her in after falling asleep in his car, she would have to apologize for that. With a sigh she got up and stretched, feeling her bones cracking after not having be used in quite some time and got up to head into the kitchen, craving hot chocolate. She began to think over the dream, it had been twelve years ago, half way to her 7th birthday, when she had met Jake for the first time, she missed those days but knew that she couldn't go back in time and relive them though she may hope to. Sherry began to riffle through the cupboards, looking for the stash of hot chocolate she had hidden from Claire, last time she had hot chocolate in the open Claire had used all of it over the course of a night filled with hot chocolate, roasted marshmallows over the fire and watching movies. Finding the hidden stash, Sherry took out one of the packets before replacing the box and heading for the kettle to put on while she began to look for her mug, marshmallows, squirty cream and giant chocolate buttons. It was her fathers way for making the hot chocolate not so hard on her throat when she was younger and trying hot chocolate for the first time and since then it was like an addiction to add all of the items, to her it was the best hot chocolate in the world. As she waited for the kettle to boil, Sherry lightly tapped her foot on the floor as she wondered where her father might be so she could tell him about Jake coming tomorrow, it appeared he had read her mind as no sooner after she thought of it her father walked into the kitchen, shocked to see her there.

"Ah Sherry, awake I see." He said with a smile as he spotted all the components to for the hot chocolate as the kettle finished boiling and Sherry added it to the hot chocolate dust in her mug, lightly stirring it.

"Yes father, wide awake and craving something sweet." Sherry answered, lightly adding a couple of giant chocolate buttons into the hot chocolate, placing marshmallows on the top followed by the squirty cream and more buttons.

"How was school?" William asked, walking toward the fridge and taking out a couple of beef sausage rolls that he had been keeping for Sherry until she woke up.

"It was fine, can't really complain." Sherry replied, sipping softly at the hot chocolate as she tried to not get cream on her nose. "Actually father, is it alright if I bring someone home tomorrow? We have to work together on a science project, orders from Professor Simmons." Sherry asked, knowing her father wouldn't mind but found it always better to ask.

"Of course, you know that you can bring anyone here Sherry, don't feel like you have to ask every time, I trust you." William answered, putting oven on to the appropriate temperature and began to wait for it to heat up. "Who is your science partner?"

"Jake Muller." Sherry looked down slightly, not knowing how her father would react.

"Albert's son? I haven't seen him in years." William said, placing the sausage rolls in the oven.

"Mhmm, so is it okay for him to come over tomorrow?" Sherry asked, sipping softly on her hot chocolate.

"Of course, as I said you can bring anyone you want here." William replied, waiting for the sausage rolls to cook.

"Thank you father." Sherry said, a smile on her face as she gave her father a hug.

"No problem. Now I think it is time for you to go and rest with that hot chocolate, go up to your room and I'll let you know when your dinner is ready." William said, hugging Sherry in return.

"Yes father." Sherry turned on her heel and made her way upstairs, hot chocolate in hand. When she reached her room she began to debate what to do since she had completed all of her homework at the station, she could either listen to music while reading a book, go onto her computer or watch a movie. She would have liked to watch a movie but she hated watching them alone, it was never as good as enjoying a good movie with her friends so she made her way over to her computer, deciding instead to check her emails while she waited for her dinner. As she was going through her junk mail there was a sound of ruffling within the cage set beside the computer causing Sherry to look up, a small creature moved around within the cage before peeking its head out of the door of its house, pink nose twitching as its black eyes scanned the cage lazily.

"Hello there lil misses, ready to wake up huh?" She said, smiling as the rodent continued to sniff at the air, slowly making its way out of the warmth of its home. The rodent finally exited the wooden hut completely and made its way over to the edge of the cage, a long pink tail following behind its almost completely white body apart from the cream splotches dotting the small creatures body. The rodent leapt onto the cage, now fully awake as it tried to get to its owner. "Okay Honey, I'll let you out." Sherry opened the cage door, allowing the rat free roam of her computer desk as the creature raced out and over to it's owner, getting up on its hind legs as it sniffed up at her, hands reaching out as if to grab ahold of her.

Sherry giggled at the rats antics, placing her hand down flat as the rodent quickly raced up her arm and onto her shoulder, comfortably perched there and not willing to move anytime soon. The two sat there quite happily for the next couple of minutes until Sherry heard her father's voice calling her from the bottom of the stairs saying how her dinner was ready, she decided that it had been awhile since Honey had been let out and brought her with her, being careful to not bounce too much going down the stairs.

"I see you brought an eating buddy." William said with a chuckle as he spotted the cream and white rat on his daughter's shoulder, handing her the plate of sausage rolls and offered a piece of carrot to the rat who greedily snatched it from his fingers, gnawing on it loudly as Sherry made her way to the dining table, sitting down and beginning to eat her meal, savouring every bite as the rat continued to munch noisily in her ear. As the rat finished it began to wash itself before moving on to Sherry, lightly cleaning the skin of her shoulder over and over as she tried her best not to giggle at the ticklish sensation, instead trying to pay attention to her food. The rat eventually got comfortable and fell sound asleep on her shoulder, allowing her to finish her meal without any distractions other than her father walking in to grab a glass of water before leaving to go back to his study.

When Sherry finished her meal she stood up, disturbing the rat enough for it to dig its claws into her shoulder to make sure it stayed on, but other than that made no other movement as Sherry hummed to a song she had listened to earlier while putting all the clean dishes away before restocking it with the dirty dishes, trying her best not to move so much it would disturb the rat still upon her shoulder. When she was finished with her task Sherry's attention was diverted to the clock, giving a yawn as she spotted that it was nearing 10pm, close to the usual time she went to sleep at so she made her way back up to her room, doing her usual routine of turning her computer off, brushing her teeth and putting Honey back in her cage, much to the rat's annoyance of being woken up. With all that completed Sherry got ready for bed, slipping under the covers of her double bed and turning on her tv, finding a good program to watch until sleep finally over took her and forced her to turn it off, closing her eyes as she wondered what the next day would bring and how she was going to react with Jake being in her house after all these years.


	3. Interesting Developments

The next day at school was no different to any other, crowds upon crowds of people in different clicks, Ashley was back to flirting with Jake, Sherry was reading yet another book and Jake was glancing her direction every so often while they waited for their teachers to join them. When Miss Alomar and Mr Stone walked in followed by Claire all the gossip within the room stopped, looking questionably to the new person with their teachers, that is everyone except Sherry.

"Sorry for the delay class but we were showing Miss Redfield the campus layout." Miss Alomar apologized, her voice highly accented from her thick African accent. "She will be joining us over the next couple of years so all of you be on your best behaviour and treat her as you would us."

"Now then boys, its time for us to go outside and practice." Mr Stone said, his voice also highly thickened by his African accent. The boys all groaned and moved away from the girls, some giving their girls a quick kiss. It was the opposite for Jake and Ashley, the girl just was not taking the hint when he said no, pulling away from the overly desperate girl as she moved to kiss him. Sherry looked up at the two and rolled her eyes, returning to her book almost immediately now that she knew what all the commotion was about. Eventually Jake managed to pry himself away from Ashley and made his way quickly over to the group of boys, he didn't mind the attention but Ashley was just too much with how she was acting now more so than ever before.

"Alright girls, how about some volley ball?" Miss Alomar asked, the girls giving a light cheer as they all stood up and made their way toward the centre of the room while the boys made their way outside to play football or something.

Sherry stood at the back of the group, hoping beyond all else to be left out so that she could get back to her book, everyone knew that P.E. was not her strongest subject and there were always uneven numbers when they played team sports like this so her best bet was to hide at the back it appeared, however, that luck was not on her side as Ashley was one of the leaders and knew how much she hated sports, it was just another way they got at each others nerves.

"Oh Sherry, to my team please." Ashley said in a sickly sweet voice, a grin on her face that would have even surpassed the Cheshire Cat though it only caused Sherry to glare at the other blonde, stomping over to stand behind her as the teams were picked and the game began. Through the whole thing Sherry just glared at her 'captain' as the second blonde did everything in her power to make Sherry work in this class and it was only the beginning of the day. Probably because of yesterday's fight and the avoidance that Sherry had managed to complete without any hardships, the worst part of it was that today she couldn't hide from Ashley until lunch since all of their classes mixed for the day until lunch where they eventually had different classes, except for Science at the very end of the day. When the class was finally over Ashley was still grinning like a Cheshire Cat while Sherry looked about ready to kill her, her grey-blue eyes glimmering in an evil fashion as she muttered under her breath about how much she despised Ashley more than ever this day.

"You okay Sherry?" A familiar voice asked, causing the blonde to turn and look at the younger Redfield.

"Fantastic." Sherry snarled out before turning away and heading to the changing rooms, hoping to get a quick shower before the next class started. Claire gave a light smile at Sherry's anger, knowing how much she hated Ashley and how it always brought out her more confident side when she was angry at Ashley.

So the day carried on, Sherry continued to glare harshly at Ashley when all Ashley did was smile sweetly in reply throughout all of their classes together, Tuesday was always the worst day for Sherry because of how many classes she had with Ashley. The day seemed to be passing slower than usual for that very reason, also the feeling of dread at having to work with Jake after school was working its way up, she wasn't sure how he would react to being back at her house if he even remembered being there in the beginning. Sherry let out a small groan as she placed her head in her arms, a headache was beginning to form within her head and it was causing her to really not want to be in school this day, the only good thing that had happened so far was the fact that Claire was there now and at least she would have company for lunch instead of eating it outside at the bleachers with nothing but a book to keep her company. With another sigh Sherry closed her eyes, thinking of something peaceful to try and ease the pain in her head before it grew to a point where she just could not concentrate when she heard a familiar voice and let out a growl.

"Aww, what's the matter Birkin, got a sore head?" Came the voice of none other than Ashley Graham, probably to throw in more pain to Sherry's already banging skull.

"Go away Graham." Sherry all but snarled out, covering her head in such away that she kept most of the sound away or, at least, dulled it down.

"I'll go away when you give me what I want." Ashley propped her hip on Sherry's desk, raising her hand to scan her perfectly manicured nails for any sign of imperfection.

"And what would that be?" Sherry refused to move her head out from under her arms, quite content to just stay there.

"You already know what I want." Ashley slammed her hand lightly on the desk, causing Sherry to raise her head and glare at the second blonde.

"Well too bad, I want's don't get." Sherry snapped back, lowering her head into her arms again.

"We'll see about that, how can a pathetic girl like you even hope to keep Jake in line, many have tried and all have failed. You won't be able to keep him satisfied with your little 'project' for very long so how about handing him over to someone who can control him." Ashley glared into the top of Sherry's head, all she could see of the other female.

"Ever think that maybe we were given the choice and we both accepted? Besides, it's not like we are going to be screwing around, not everyone is as slutty as you are. Unlike you, most of us can control those urges and besides, if you could really keep him in control wouldn't he be wrapped around your finger right about now?" Sherry asked, the sound coming muffled from under her arms as her aggravation grew.

"That's all in due time honey, soon even you will have to give in to that side of yourself, its not my fault at this time no one wants you." Ashley smirked, knowing she had struck a nerve when Sherry tensed up.

Something in her snapped as Sherry raised her head and glared coldly at Ashley, her hands curling into fists as she stood up from her seat and punched the other blonde square in the mouth, her grey-blue eyes shimmering like fire as she towered over Ashley, who was now lying on the ground holding her chin, her hazel eyes wide in shock. The teacher looked up from his paperwork and rolled his eyes, turning back to whatever was being done. He really should have done something but back in his day this was how people ended conflicts, how groups were formed.

"How dare you, you talk about me as if you know me. Well guess what Ashley, you don't and you have no right to say the things you do so how about wising up and leaving me the hell alone." Sherry grabbed her bag and shoved past Ashley and her group as she managed to stand up, making her way toward the door as the rest of the class stepped aside, liking the look of life for the day. The smaller of the blondes made sure to slam the door as she exited it, grabbing the hall pass her teacher offered her as she went by and made her way outside toward the bleachers, her usual relaxing area.

Sherry threw her bag onto one of the bleachers and sat down, lowering her head into her hands as she tried to calm herself down as the adrenaline pumped through her veins. She had never felt better when her fist had met Ashley's cheek but knew it would be the biggest mistake she ever made, for this moment however she would rejoice in the feeling. When the blonde had finally calmed down she looked out over the football field, spotting the usual batch of birds that would dig for worms around the area when she heard a rustle of clothing beside her causing her to tear her gaze away and look up, spotting the short, cropped red hair of Jake Muller, surrounded by about ten other guys all wearing the same leather jackets.

"Hey Supergirl, what ya doing out here? Shouldn't you be in class." Jake asked, raising an eyebrow as he looked down at Sherry who only sighed and turned away, folding her arms around her knees and placing her chin upon them.

"Probably, but my life will be hell until the end of Senior year so I thought I would enjoy the rest of the day while I could." Sherry replied, continuing to stare over the field.

"What did ya do Birkin?" One of the males asked, leaning over Sherry's right to try and gain a reaction from the blonde. "Refuse to do someone's homework?"

"If only, more like punched a certain snot nosed snob in the face." Sherry glanced to the male on her right briefly before her gaze returned to the field. The males were silent for a second before all of them burst out laughing, some of them having to grab ahold of each other to steady themselves from laughing.

"You get Graham then?" One of them managed to choke out through his laughter, all Sherry could do was nod as she raised an eyebrow at them.

"Good on ya, that girl had it coming." Another said, falling down beside Sherry and throwing an arm around her. "You got some bravery in ya don't ya Birkin? Not always the little mouse we know ya as."

"I think you should give her some space, you might be the next one she hits." Jake said, his laughing calmed down to a light chuckle as he spotted Sherry glaring at his friend.

"Yes, if you don't remove your arm from me in the next couple of seconds then you can join her with a matching swollen jaw." Sherry said, glaring at the arm around her shoulders and then turning the glare to its owner.

"Easy girlie, just messing around." The male said, removing his arm and waving them both as he slid away from her.

"So what are you guys doing here? Shouldn't you be off somewhere else flirting with girls or getting into trouble?" Sherry asked, looking at each of the males around her.

"We were on our way for an early lunch and caught you sitting here before class is even over, it's a bit unusual if you think of it, you are a perfect student after all, why would you be missing class?" One of them decided to answer, stretching his arms above his head.

"However, since you don't seem to want our company then I guess we had better be on our way, wouldn't want you get into trouble with us riff-raff now would we?" Jake said with a pretend bow and a grin on his face when Sherry gave him a light shove away, earning a giggle from the blonde female.

"Yes, be gone, I can get right back into my book and disappear from the world." Sherry gave a light smile as she looked at all of them surrounding her, astounded at how at ease she felt around them all and how they had cheered her up.

"Of course, we wouldn't want to keep you here any longer than we should. Come on guys, lets go see who all we can get to believe that Supergirl here has some backbone." Jake turned and started to lead the others away from Sherry.

"Oh, Jake, I have a question for you." Sherry said, looking up at him as she realised that now would be as good a time as ever to ask about the project.

"Sure, you guys go on ahead and I'll catch up." Jake turned back as the others continued on their way to the school parking lot. "So what's up?"

"I was just wondering how you are going to get to my house for the project today, you don't know where it is and I was wondering if you were going to get a ride in with myself and Chris, if you were going to drive us both there or if you just wanted directions and I could meet you there when Chris finished work." Sherry lowered her gaze away as she finished the sentence, silently biting her lip as she knew it had to be asked but she wished it didn't have to be so soon.

"You can give me directions as we go along, its easier if we are both there so I don't end up making a wrong turn, I might accidentally end up outside Graham's house." Jake said, watching the blonde carefully with his calculating blue eyes.

"That just wouldn't do, she would probably think you were there for her injury and ask you to take care of her." Sherry replied, a smile on her face now as she tried not to giggle.

"Oh dear god no, that would be horrible, who knows how she'd want me to take care of her." Jake pretended to faint, now earning a complete giggle from Sherry as she tried to hold it back but couldn't.

"You don't even want to know, she believes that is how she can 'control' you." Sherry said, raising her head as the wind blew softly through her blonde strands.

"Well then it's too bad she can't see that she just isn't my type, I have standards and wouldn't sink to her level." Jake watched Sherry closely from the corner of his eye, only tearing his gaze away when he saw her beginning to tear her eyes away from the football field. "So, what did she say this time to earn such a reaction you? It's not like you to be violent, mouthy maybe, but not violent."

"Let's just say that she thinks that she knows me and made the mistake of bringing up a touchy subject, with her usual attitude that everyone has to be like her." Sherry answered, huffing lightly as she lowered her head.

"Well, just ignore her, isn't that what most people do now a days?" Jake started to stand up, batting at the dust on his trousers from the bleachers as the bell for lunch sounded.

"I suppose… it's just hard sometimes when she says such things." Sherry said softly, not looking up even when the bell rang.

"Keep your chin up, she only says it to get a reaction out of you, though this reaction will be one for her to remember." Jake placed a hand softly on Sherry's shoulder, giving it a light squeeze. "Just keep being your usual self, ignore Graham and if she gives you anymore trouble then be your usual, fiery self."

"Thanks Jake." Sherry looked up and offered him a small smile, which he returned with a small upturning of his lips until he heard someone calling Sherry's name, raising his head to spot the redheaded female waving over as she came closer.

"I'll leave you alone now, see ya in Science." Jake quickly headed off to meet with his gang, waving a hand lightly behind him as Sherry watched him go, giving a light wave of her own until Claire arrived and placed herself down beside Sherry.

"Getting to know your Science partner a bit more aye?" Claire asked with a knowing grin, handing a sandwich to Sherry who only blushed and nudged against Claire with her shoulder, gently taking the sandwich from Claire's hand.

"Not really, just talking about after school, he said he will give me a lift on his motorbike to the house as he will probably get lost if I just give him directions." Sherry answered, taking a small bite from her sandwich.

"Uh huh, sure, I think its another reason altogether, Wesker was intelligent and would not forget a simple set of directions so I highly doubt that Jake will forget the directions." Claire said, the grin still on her face as she bit into her own sandwich, taking a moment to chew before swallowing as Sherry was still chewing her first piece until the younger girl finally swallowed.

"He might not have inherited that from his father." Sherry said, her cheeks going redder.

"I say he only wants you on the back of his bike so you will wrap your arms around his waist, guys usually do that sort of stuff." Claire took another bite of her sandwich, smirking as Sherry's cheeks were slowly turning to the colour of tomatoes.

"Can we drop this subject please?" Sherry asked, biting into her sandwich again as she kept her gaze low.

"Sure, how about this fight I heard you got into with Ashley?" Claire asked, moving to a more serious conversation.

"So you heard about that?" Sherry lowered her head again, the blush slowly subsiding.

"Of course I did, everyone has from all the complaining that she is doing, she's trying her hardest to get you kicked out of the school for the 'uncalled for assault' as she calls it but all of the teachers have your back so don't worry about it okay?" Claire said, watching the young blonde as they continued to eat their sandwiches.

"I knew she would try to do something, it is no real surprise." Sherry merely shrugged her shoulders as she finally finished her sandwich, wiping her leggings free of any crumbs that may have fallen onto them.

"She's over reacting, just a drama queen." Claire leaned back on her hands as she also finished her sandwich, taking in the suns rays with a sigh. "So, back to you and your science partner."

"Oh no, not this again." Sherry gave a sigh a shake of her head, a smile coming to her face either way as the two continued to chat for the entire half hour lunch period, mostly consisting of Claire trying to convince Sherry that Jake had an interest in her while Sherry politely dismissed it all with a shake of her head stating how Claire is merely jumping to conclusions.

When the bell rang signalling the end of lunch, the two girls stood up and headed back to the school building, the subject of Jake having been dropped a while back as Claire began to tell a story of what happened when Chris and herself had left Sherry home the other day. Sherry let out a giggle at the thought of the two having a pillow fight but she knew who started it, Claire always grabbed pillows to beat Chris with and she knew that some day he would snap, that day just so happened to have been yesterday; when the girls reached the front doors neither of them were surprised to see Ashley's father at the doors, talking away to the principal apparently in a very heated argument as Ashley stood back and smirked at the scene. Claire scowled at the second blonde who was happily just sitting back and watching chaos unfold, more than likely she had called her father about the situation to try and get him to kick Sherry out of school, although, she was happy to see that Sherry's punch had been enough to cause the beginning of a black eye on the blonde, she would certainly feel it in the morning with the swelling on her cheek. Sherry on the other hand refused to look at the scene, keeping her head low as she quickly moved past the adults with Claire right at her side, she caught the glare that Claire was giving Ashley but didn't say anything or look to the other blonde, at least she didn't until Ashley decided to open her mouth as she saw Sherry and Claire.

"You are so out of here Birkin, say goodbye to your perfect school record." Ashley said, keeping the smirk on her face.

"At least I can fight my own battles Graham." Sherry stated coldly as she raised her gaze to glare at Ashley.

"Oh, I can fight my own battles, daddy just doesn't want me to be going to school with a psycho is all." Ashley lifted a hand to her face, checking at her perfect nails.

"Maybe you should tell them your comment to me then that caused me to act out, or is it just too hard to speak up about the truth." Sherry continued to glare at Ashley, her grey-blue eyes shining coldly.

"Besides, it looks like your father is fighting a losing battle, everyone knows that Sherry isn't mad, they all know its just you throwing a tantrum because someone actually has enough backbone to stand up against you." Claire entered in, wrapping an arm around Sherry's shoulders, both for giving the younger girl support and for restraining her if need be.

"Oh, I don't know about that. Graham's don't lose." Ashley said.

"Only financially, if a fight gets physical though then they turn into little pansy's." Sherry said, scoffing lightly as Ashley now glared at the other blonde.

"How dare you." Ashley all but snarled out just as her father and the principal turned around.

"Alright you three, get into the school building instead of standing out here fighting. Mr Graham I can assure you that Sherry will be nothing but civil with Ashley for the rest of the school year, though if this comes up again and I find out that either were provoking a fight then both of them shall be suspended." The principal, Mrs Hunnigan, said as she folded her arms across her chest.

"Yes Ingrid, I understand." Mr Graham said, glaring down at Sherry who visibly shrank away as Claire stood protectively in front of the younger girl.

"Bye bye daddy, I'll see you at home." Ashley said, wrapping her arms around her father with a smile.

"Bye bye sweetie, if anything happens you just give me a call alright? I'll be here in a second." Mr Graham said as he wrapped his arms around Ashley for a second before the two separated, Mr Graham heading down to his Limo as the driver opened the door for him to enter, shutting it behind him.

"Of course daddy, bye!" Ashley called back, waving after the limo.

Claire scoffed lightly at Ashley's sweetness to her father, staying between her and Sherry as they headed inside after the principal, this whole time Sherry kept her gaze on the ground in front of her, trusting Claire to not let her walk into anything along the way. When Ashley was out of sight Sherry finally let out a heaving sigh, closing her eyes and leaning against the lockers lightly as Claire raised an eyebrow at her.

"Come on Sherry, you can't miss another class." Claire said, folding her arms.

"I know… But its one with Ashley and I really can't be bothered by the obvious stares I'm going to be getting." Sherry mumbled softly, head still lowered until Claire placed a hand on her chin and raised her head.

"Now you listen to me Miss Birkin, let them stare, most of them will probably be for praise at your bravery so get your backside to class willingly or will I have to drag you there?" Claire asked, giving a light glare to Sherry as she finally released the younger girls chin.

"Okay, no need to drag me there I'll go willingly." Sherry answered with a small glare of her own at Claire as she pushed away from the lockers and started to make her way down the corridor to her classroom while Claire stayed where she was, it was closer to the Gym and it also meant she could make sure Sherry kept her word about heading to class. When Sherry stepped through the door all she could see where the eyes of her classmates staring at her, some with hateful glares but most of them had appreciation in their eyes as they openly stared at the blonde, it made Sherry feel uncomfortable as she apologized to the teacher for being late and made her way to her seat where she tried to shrink away inside of herself as best she could.

Eventually the time came for Science, the talk of Sherry's antics against Ashley had now dulled down but was still the talk of the school for the most part, Sherry couldn't wait to sit in her regular seat and just get stuck in to the book she always had with her; she was surprised to see Jake there already, leaning against her desk as he raised his head and gave a smirk at the evident shock on her face.

"You are here early." Sherry stated, shock now gone as she moved to sit in her seat, Jake turning the seat ahead of her around to sit in front of her.

"Got caught again, this time by Simmons who so nicely brought me back here and forced me to stay the last two lessons here." Jake explained, leaning back in the seat as Sherry began to rummage through her bag, bringing out a book. "Do you do have anything in that bag besides a book?"

"I have other utensils but it just so happens the book is my favourite thing." Sherry answered, opening the book at the bookmark placed within.

"Right, so basically everything else is for show." Jake said as he began to close his eyes lightly only to be woken by Sherry kicking him gently under the table.

"Oy, stay awake you, when the bell rings we get to work." Sherry said, glancing at the red head as he grumbled and gave the blonde a glare.

"Come on, we have another five minutes until that bell goes off." Jake whined, scowling at the blonde.

"I don't care, if you sleep now then you will be drowsy when we actually have to work." Sherry stated, not once looking up from her book.

"Fine, so how has the rest of the day been for you Supergirl? Anything interesting happen in the last couple of classes with you and Graham since this afternoon?" Jake asked, leaning forward now and lowering the book in Sherry's hands so that she had no choice but to look at him while he spoke to her.

"She called in her father to try and get me thrown out, Principal Hunnigan wasn't too happy about it and threatened to suspend us both if anything happened for the rest of the school year." Sherry answered, glaring lightly at the red head as she resented and closed her book since she was clearly going to be unable to read it while they had this conversation.

"Shit, and here I thought the world hated me for always being caught." Jake said, leaning back again when he was happy that Sherry had got the message about the book. "So basically if she screws up you both get screwed over?"

"Something like that, she'll love the time off school though but it would just drive me mad because I did nothing wrong." Sherry gave the clock a quick glance, willing it to hurry up so she could stop this conversation and get to work.

"You do realise that she will try her best to get suspended right?" Jake watched Sherry carefully through his steely blue eyes, not once letting his face shift.

"Yes I do realised that, however she is not the only one with friends in high places. I just prefer to fight my own battles." Sherry said, lowering her gaze to the book, wishing she could read it.

"You talking about Simmons? Or the red head?" Jake asked, interested to hear who the friends in high places were.

"Neither, my father is just a much loved scientist who can call in a couple of favours, or there is always Chris and Leon who have made it quite clear on if anything goes wrong to let them know. They take the role of brother figure to literally though Chris more so than Leon, Leon like's me to fight my own battles first before joining in." Sherry answered, raising her gaze again only to meet the blue of Jake's eyes staring intently at her.

"Interesting, so your father has friends in high places and you have two people who are like older brothers, basically you have more fire power than Ashley ever could with just her father." Jake said, a smirk gracing his face lightly.

"Mhmm, so don't you be trying to escape the clutches of school work around me or I might just have to bring in someone to keep you in place until the project is finished." Sherry said matter of factly, a small smile coming upon her features.

"Yes ma'am, I'll be a good boy, I swear." Jake joked lightly, causing Sherry to give a giggle when the bell finally went off, signalling the beginning of Science and the last subject of the day.

Students began to file into the room quickly, each shoving one another in as they call knew that once this class was over they were free for the rest of the day to what they pleased, at least those that weren't doing the assignment and leaving it to just their partners. Ashley made a show of walking right past Sherry's desk and running a hand lightly against Jake's arm who only gave her a stare and leaned closer to Sherry, opting to ignore the desperate blonde who gave Sherry a cold glare but moved on to her own partner, an equally useless jock whom couldn't get a partner in Science to save his life, at least not an intelligent one. The class continued on, alive with chatter about everyone's different projects until the final bell rang and the scraping of chairs sounded at once, it reminded Sherry of nails on a chalkboard as she felt the goose bumps run down her spine. When the pile of students had finally calmed down to a reasonable amount leaving the door Sherry finally got up from her seat, kicking Jake again as he had dozed off within the last ten minutes of class, she let him have it though since they had already mapped out a plan of how they were going to do the project and in what stages. The red head gave a grunt as he cracked one eye open to look at Sherry and grumbled lightly under his breath before sitting up, stretching his arms above his head and standing up.

"What is it with you and kicking me awake?" Jake asked, scowling at the blonde who only gave him an innocent look.

"It's the best way to wake someone up, hitting never usually works so a little kick is all you need." Sherry said, smiling sweetly at him.

"Whatever, let's just get out of here." Jake said, leading the way out the door with Sherry behind, her bag slung lightly over her shoulder as they made their way toward the front door, joined swiftly by the female red head as she wrapped an arm around Sherry's shoulders.

"Still living I see." Claire stated, smiling at the young blonde.

"Yes, still alive but only just, Ashley looks ready to murder me though." Sherry said, glancing to the second blonde who had done nothing but glare at her throughout all of Science and now leaving the school.

"Let her glare, she had a lot of people to go through to get to you." Claire said, keeping up her smile as she raised her gaze and gave Jake a nod of acknowledgement to which he replied with his own nod. "So you two heading to the Birkin Estate?"

"Yeah, just going there now. Will you and Chris be calling around later?" Sherry asked, looking up to the older girl.

"Most likely, you know what Chris is like when you bring friends home. Want us to bring anything?"

"Yes please, we are almost out of marshmallows and ice cream."

"Awesome, I'll let Chris know. Do you want anything?" Claire looked back up to Jake who only shook his head.

"Nah, I'm fine. Thanks anyway." Jake answered, pulling out the keys to his motorbike as they finally reached it.

"No problem, well you two be careful now." Claire pulled Sherry into a tight hug, not as bad as a bear hug from Chris but somewhere close as Sherry giggled lightly and squeezed the older girl back as hard as she could before they let go.

"We will, see you later." Sherry said, waving as Claire started to walk away, only turning back to wave in reply to Sherry.

"Interesting friend you have there." Jake said, grabbing the spare helmet and tossing it lightly to Sherry before grabbing his own to put on.

"Yeah, but she is always there when I need her." Sherry said, looking at the bike and helmet as she started to regret agreeing to this, she was not a quitter however and quickly summed up the courage to put on the helmet and join Jake on the bike, sitting behind him and placing her bag in between the two so it wouldn't fly around madly.

"I'd hold on tight if I were you." Jake said, his voice muffled from within the helmet as he looked over his shoulder at the blonde. Upon hearing what he said she quickly wrapped her arms around his stomach and latched on, refusing to let go as Jake chuckled and revved up the bike, releasing the clutch and heading at high speed down the road, Sherry in the back calling out directions whenever she could, that was mostly at traffic lights when Jake slowed down enough to hear her or stop at the light's, all the while Sherry clung to Jake praying he wouldn't crash and that she would make it to the house in one piece.

**A/N: Sorry this took a while to update, I had most of the chapter written out when I got stuck and had no idea what to write, played more of Resi 6, then my lil fat rat passed on to that big cage in the sky, then Assassin's Creed 3 came out and then Halo 4 so a lil bit hectic but either way, R & R please and give me any criticism, I like to work on my flaws so constructive criticism please.**


	4. Work Begins and Plans Are Made

When the pair finally reached the Birkin Estate Sherry was more than sure she was close to tearing a hole into Jake's shirt with how tightly she was gripping it, she vowed to never go on another motorcycle again as she managed to pry her fingers free from the clenched up shirt and sit back, flexing her fingers so they weren't so stiff anymore before taking off the helmet as quickly as she could. Jake on the other hand gave a chuckle from underneath his helmet before he took it off, looking back at Sherry as she tried to get off the back of the bike, shaking so much that once or twice her legs almost gave out under her, only the bike was keeping her steady. When she finally managed to get off the bike it was clear she was not built for that kind of travel, she was ghostly pale and her eyes were as wide as saucers when Jake rested a hand lightly on her shoulder.

"Hey, you okay?" He asked, a slight hint of concern was evident in his voice as he knew some people had a hard time their first time on a motorcycle.

"F-fine." Sherry managed to stutter out while Jake slung his leg off the bike to stand beside her, the blonde took one step forward and her legs just gave out on her like jelly; Jake was quick to react as he reached an arm out quickly to stop the young blonde from falling on her face, helping her to stand up properly again and moving an arm to around her waist so she could put weight on him if need be.

"You don't look so fine." Jake said, watching Sherry as she tried to calm her breathing to a normal rate.

"I'll be okay, don't worry." Sherry said softly, her heart rate returning to normal as she lightly pushed away from Jake to stand by herself, rummaging through her bag in search of the house key as she lead the way to the door.

"Fine, if you say so." Jake said with a shrug as he followed the blonde, standing behind her as she managed to get the door open and walked in, keeping the door open to let Jake in, closing it behind him.

"Do you want anything to drink?" Sherry asked as she took off her coat and hung it on the coat rack, holding out a hand to take Jake's jacket as soon as she was finished hanging her own up.

"Nah, I'm okay." Jake answered, taking off his jacket and handing it to Sherry as she hung it up beside her own in the middle of the coat rack.

"Alright, well I am quite parched so I will get a drink, the living room is through that door." Sherry said, pointing toward one of the large oak doors within the house as Jake nodded, beginning to head that direction. "Are you absolutely positive that you do not want a drink?"

"Yes, I am one hundred percent sure I do not want a drink, I'm perfectly fine." Jake answered while giving a light shake of his head, rolling his eyes at Sherry's asking twice about wanting a drink. "Go ahead and get your drink then we can get to work." With that said Jake opened the door and stepped into the living room, it wasn't in your face with expensive trinkets and furniture but it was a higher class to what he was used to, the sofa and chairs were a plush cream suede that matched the darker cream of the walls along with pine cupboards that sat against the walls and the pine side tables for at each end of the seats. There was also an off-grey colour, fluffy, rug that looked soft to the touch, it suited the cream of the carpet that seemed to match the furniture well, a large 52 inch television had itself a nice little home on the wall, the grey blending in well with the wall and to top off the whole room there was a small glass coffee table sat upon the rug in the middle of the chairs surrounding it. Jake took a quick note of everything in the room before finally deciding to sit down on the sofa, sinking right into the large three seater as he got comfortable to begin the wait for Sherry.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Sherry was trying her best to remain calm, she wasn't sure if Jake remembered anything of their childhood here and was unsure how to react if he did, that coupled with the motorbike had just shattered her as she tried her best to pour herself a glass of 7Up Free while trying harder than she should to stop it from spilling all over the place. With a groan of frustration she finally managed to pour out the juice, glaring at the liquid as she replaced the lid back on the bottle and put it into the fridge, taking a rather large swig from the glass and heading toward the living room, trying to decide how they should start the project while also trying to fight back any questions on what he might think of her home. She didn't want him to think of her as someone overly stuck up for all the things that had gathered up around the house, she herself didn't have that many possessions in her own room, mostly what littered the house were her fathers when he travelled the world to learn different things before returning back to his Science. Sherry opened the living room door and carefully entered, making sure to close the door softly behind her before looking over at Jake who seemed quite at home on the two seater sofa with his eyes closed, lost to the world. The young blonde quietly made her way over to the two seater and took a seat beside Jake, placing her drink on the glass coffee table before gently shaking Jake to wake him but only receiving a grunt in return.

"Come on you, get up." Sherry said with a light giggle as she shook the red head again.

"Five more minutes." Was the grumbled reply as Jake turned his head away from Sherry, keeping his eyes closed while Sherry merely rolled her eyes and poked the side closest to her which in turn caused the red head to jump lightly and open his eyes.

"We have to work." The blonde said, opening the file block that was always kept in the living room and grabbing a pen from the coffee table.

"Aww, didn't we do enough in class?" Jake asked, sitting up fully no matter his complaining.

"That was planning, not work." Sherry answered, the file block placed neatly on her knees, with the pen in hand she looked at Jake expectantly.

"Fine." Jake grumbled, reaching for his backpack that had barely anything in it but he always managed to carry a file block himself and a couple of pieces of paper. "Shall we make a start then?"

Sherry gave a nod of reply and the two began their assignment, they decided to start with the origin of Chemistry, Alchemy, and began to write separate papers on what they both knew on the subject before coming together and choosing the best points to add to their joined essay. Hours passed before there was another sound from within the house, the sound of the front door opening and closing caused Sherry to raise her head slightly toward the living room door as her father's head popped in.

"Ah, good evening Sherry, glad to see you are home safe and sound. You must be Jake, you certainly have changed haven't you? Is that your motorcycle outside?" William asked as he opened the door fully to step inside.

"Good evening sir, yes that is my bike out there, it isn't in the way is it?" Jake asked, raising his head to look at the older male.

"No, no, it's fine where it is. Working hard are the two of you?"

"Yes father, we will just finish these papers and then continued work tomorrow." Sherry answered, smiling in greeting to her father.

"Of course, don't want to overwork yourselves now do you?" William gave a light chuckle before turning his attention back to Jake. "Will you be staying for dinner?"

"Nah, I wouldn't want to intrude sir." Jake answered, meeting William's eye.

"Nonsense dear boy, stay if you wish, it's not intruding if I've asked you to stay." William said, shaking his head lightly.

"You can stay if you want Jake, there is always plenty to go around here." Sherry said, speaking up finally into the conversation.

"Well if you insist then, and if you are sure I'm not intruding on anything." Jake said, looking between both Birkin's.

"Not at all, we usually have guests over anyway and its no bother what so ever." William said, turning to leave. "I'll leave you two alone now, see you at dinner." With that said, William left the two teens alone once again.

"Are you sure I'm not intruding?" Jake asked, his attention now solely on Sherry.

"I am positive that you aren't intruding, the only others who would stay for dinner would be Chris and Claire and they are more intrusive than you so don't worry." Sherry answered with a small smile, lightly nudging the red head with her shoulder. "Come on, let's get back to work."

"Alright." Jake said, lowering his head to work again, between the two of them working they could easily have filled a whole file block with all their writing until they finally stopped, Jake slightly sooner than Sherry as he sat back and stretched his arms above his head, cracking his fingers to get the kinks out of them as Sherry merely clenched and unclenched her fingers to loosen them.

"Finally finished, we can work together on putting them tomorrow if you want." Sherry said, looking over at Jake as he placed his arms over the back of the sofa.

"Sure, that's fine by me." Jake said, letting his head fall back against the sofa.

Sherry watched Jake for a brief moment, rolling her eyes at him as his own eyes began to close, she began to ruffle around in her bag and pulled out about six different homework's and gave a long sigh but sat back in her chair, grabbing her pen from behind her ear to begin work.

"You are doing more work so soon?" Jake asked, watching Sherry lazily with one eye.

"If I don't then it's a chance of being beat around tomorrow, I'm already going to get hell from Ashley so I would rather not make it another several people." Sherry answered, one hand in her hair as she wrote with the other hand though it was clear she wasn't happy about it.

"Want me to help in any way?" Jake asked, sitting up straight as he leaned closer to inspect the homework.

"No, it's okay, this is my own problem." Sherry said, continuing to scribble answers on the page while Jake watched over her shoulder, catching all the silly mistakes she would make every so often.

"So this is what you do when people ask you to do their homework? You finish yours first and then work on theirs." Jake asked, curious as he was never sure how these sort of things worked.

"Ask? That's putting it nicely, they like to force me with threats but others get it worse so I consider myself lucky but yes, I do my own work before theirs that way my brain is actually active for my own stuff where as I can mess theirs up happily enough." Sherry answered as she finished one of the homework's and started on the next; she was half way through the second homework when the front door was opened once again and into the living room burst Chris, quickly followed by Claire.

"Sherry, what was this I heard about you fighting in school?" Chris asked, scowling at the young blonde who merely looked up at him.

"I thought you wanted me to stand up for myself, Ashley pushed my buttons and paid the price with my fist making contact with her face." Sherry answered, turning away again to continue on the homework.

"I wanted you to stand up for yourself voice wise, nothing physical." Chris said, folding his arms as the scowl stayed on his face.

"Maybe you should have been more specific on what you wanted." Jake said, finally speaking up as he leaned back into the sofa.

"No one asked you kid." Chris said, glaring in Jake's direction who returned the glare with the same amount of force, he got ready to retort when a voice broke between them.

"Alright now that's enough all of you." Claire butted in, standing in front of Chris and shoved him lightly away. "We got the stuff for you Sherry, even brought a couple of little surprises."

"Oh?" Sherry perked up again in interest, placing the homework's to the side as she looked over to Claire and Chris, "what sort of surprises?"

"The good kind." Claire answered with a light giggle and shake of her head as the blonde was over the sofa and in her face in a matter of seconds.

"Claire, don't be a tease, what else did you get me?" Sherry asked, hugging Claire tightly while looking up at her with eyes filled with childish innocence that Jake could only chuckle at.

"You have to wait until after dinner before you get it." Claire said while sticking out her tongue and unwinding Sherry's arms from around her.

"You are no fun what so ever." Sherry said with a pout as she sulked back to the sofa, throwing herself down upon it as Claire moved closer to join in on one of the chairs.

"Never thought of you to be quite so childish when it came to surprises Supergirl." Jake said with a smirk as he watched Sherry, his comment earning him a tongue sticking out at him from Sherry.

"So, have you two kids been good?" Claire asked, sitting down on one of the chairs while Chris moved to another, still scowling.

"Of course Claire, why wouldn't we be good?" Sherry asked, leaning further into the sofa.

"Oh, no reason what so ever." Claire said, a light smile on her features.

"Sherry, Jake, Claire, Chris, dinner." Came a voice from outside the door, foot steps residing not long after.

"Well, we got here just in time." Claire said with another smile as she hopped up and raced to the kitchen, followed by Chris who took things at a slower rate while Sherry only shook her head and stood up.

"Told you that you weren't imposing, at least you were invited to stay." Sherry said, turning her attention to Jake who only gave a chuckle and stood up, following Sherry out of the living room to the dining room.

"I hope Pizza is alright for all of you." William said, grabbing a couple of slices off one of the pizza's he had made.

"Mr Birkin, if you were my age I would marry you for your pizza's." Claire said with a dramatic sigh as Chris rolled his eyes and William chuckled at Claire's display; the female red head quickly grabbed a couple of slices from the second pizza, practically skipping to the table as Chris sat beside her with slices from the exact same pizza. Jake and Sherry both grabbed from the same pizza, the same one that William had, which consisted of bacon and mushroom while the second was a Meat Feast pizza, they sat side by side at the table and quietly ate away at the pizza, only speaking when spoken to which wasn't often.

Sherry quietly listened to the back and forth banter between the Redfield siblings and her father's interjections every so often, she was quite used to this but couldn't stop herself from looking over to Jake at moments to gauge his reaction to the banter, most of the times he seemed amused while others he seemed quite confused by it all. The blonde took another bite of her second slice of pizza when she turned her attention back to the banter, catching Claire's eyes briefly as the red head gave her a knowing smile which caused the blonde to blush a pale shade of red and lower her head to stare at her plate.

"So, what have you kiddies been doing all day or has it really been just that assignment?" Claire asked, placing her head on the top of her hands as she placed her elbows on the table and looked between Jake and Sherry, having finished her pizza.

"We have just been doing the assignment." Jake answered, finishing up his own pizza and folding his arms across his chest as he looked over to the second red head, he had caught Sherry glancing at him through the evening and wasn't too sure what it meant but decided to ignore it for now.

"Much to Jake's complaining in the beginning." Sherry added after swallowing a bite of pizza, quickly taking another bite straight after as she chewed her food softly.

"Sounds exciting." Chris said in a bored tone as he followed Jake's actions in folding his arms across his chest.

"What are you writing about anyway Sherry? You said it for Science but what are you studying, Physics, Biology or Chemistry?" William asked, turning to look at his daughter.

"Chemistry." Sherry answered, taking the final piece of pizza into her mouth and chewing it softly.

"How much do you know on the subject Jake?" William asked, now turning his attention to Jake now since his daughter was chewing.

"Enough to get a pass, there isn't a vast amount of information I can find at my home about it but I know enough to get me through the year." Jake answered, shrugging his shoulders.

"I see, well its always better to know something on the subject rather than nothing at all I suppose." William said, closing his eyes as he placed his forehead against his clasped hands for a couple of seconds before opening them again and standing up, "with that I suppose I should leave you all, have a good evening and if any of you need anything I will be in my office." The male then walked out of the kitchen and headed up the stairs to his office, leaving the other four in the kitchen.

"So Chris, how is Piers doing?" Sherry asked, deciding to move onto a different subject after they had all said good evening to her father.

"He was in the office this morning when I came in, said he couldn't stand to be at home for longer than the eight hours he uses for sleep." Chris said while running a hand through his hair, "that boy will be the death of himself if he isn't careful, I put him in the office and gave him paperwork to do."

"At least he is dedicated, it's not often you find people his age that are willing to work." Sherry said as she stood up, grabbing everyone's plates and walking over to the dish washer. "What about Leon and his case?"

"He's still no closer to catching the thief, every time he reaches the scene he either catches a glimpse of red or finds a butterfly card lying where the object once was." Chris answered with a sigh and a shake of his head.

"Basically Chris is stressed and is quite a grumpy mister today." Claire said, summing it up as Chris turned to glare at her.

"Why not ask Leon if he wants to come over and hang out tomorrow? It's his day off tomorrow isn't it?" Sherry asked, sitting back down at the table.

"Now that's an idea, we can bring Piers along too and have a stress free day." Claire said, a huge smile on her face.

"I guess it won't hurt to ask." Chris said, a thoughtful look overcoming his features. "I'll give them a call and see if they want to come over here then tomorrow." The brunette stood up from the table and made his way outside of the room to make the phone call.

"What about you Jake, do you want to come over tomorrow?" Sherry asked, looking over at the red headed male who had been quiet throughout the whole thing.

"Sure, I haven't got anything to do tomorrow." Jake answered, a yawn escaping his mouth as he stretched. "What will you guys be doing anyway?"

"Probably go to the cinema or the amusement park that's in town for the weekend then come back here, get something to eat and end in either a gaming session or a movie, depending on what we did at the beginning of the day." Claire answered as she sat back in her chair with a soft sigh, her eyes slowly starting to close.

"Sounds like you do this often." Jake said with a light smirk.

"You could say it's a monthly get together where we just hang out." Sherry said with a smile.

"It's better in the Summer when we have water fights." Claire said with a chuckle as Sherry also let out a small snicker.

"Or Winter with the snowball fights."

"You cheat when snowball fighting though, stuffing snow down everyone's clothes or putting it in my hood and throwing my hood over my head."

"Aww, but Claire, you know how much I love you, its my way of showing my love for you."

"Well keep it to hugs instead of snow."

"I give you hot chocolate at the end of it all so be happy." Sherry had a coy smile on her face, it amused Jake to see this side of Sherry, normally she was the quiet girl who only ever spoke up for herself against Ashley but this more outgoing side of Sherry was interesting, it intrigued Jake to no end.

"Sounds like you guys have fun." Jake spoke up finally, interrupting the females bickering playfully back and forth.

"You could say that, its fun to just let loose and be yourself amongst friends." Chris' voice came from the kitchen door, three heads turning to look at him.

"Well? Are Leon and Piers coming over tomorrow?" Sherry asked, looking expectantly at Chris.

"Yeah, both are coming but Piers will come around at dinner time, he has things to do around the house." Chris answered, leaning against the kitchen door frame.

"So now all we have to do is decide whether or not we are going to go to the amusement park or cinema." Claire said, going into thought immediately.

"How about the amusement park? If memory serves there isn't really anything in the cinema that would amuse all of us together." Sherry offered.

"It's a good suggestion, we can all plan it together tomorrow when we are more awake." Claire said, yawning quietly.

"What time do you guys normally meet up and where?" Jake asked, looking at each person individually, his eyes lingering a brief second longer on Sherry than everyone else before they darted away.

"We usually meet up here around 10:30AM and then spend the whole day together." Chris answered, giving s light scowl as he realised that Jake had been invited while he was gone from the room and it had appeared that he had accepted.

"Early weekend morning for me then." Jake said, a light groan leaving his lips as Sherry only shook her head and kicked him lightly.

"Oh don't complain, its worse at Christmas, Claire usually has everyone up for 4AM and that's us until 4AM that night if they get snowed in here." Sherry said, watching Jake's eyes widen in shock at that fact.

"Hey! That was a one time thing and I'd never had Christmas at your house before." Claire said defensively, folding her arms across her chest as she huffed.

"So what about Christmas at home?" Chris asked, a smirk on his face at the taunting moving to his sister.

"That's different, I just like to annoy you." Claire answered, sticking her tongue out playfully at Chris.

"Love you too sis." Chris said with a light scowl across his features.

"Oh, we should totally call Jill and see if she wants to come too." Claire said, perking up as she suddenly remembered the brunette female.

"She has work tomorrow." Chris said, shattering Claire's thought completely.

"Aww, she never gets to hang out with us anymore." The female red head said with a pout. "Oh, before I forget. Here is your surprise Sherry." Claire reached over to grab a couple of bags from the counter, Sherry's blue eyes sparkling in anticipation at finally seeing what her surprise is.

"Yay!" Sherry was practically jumping in her seat as her eyes sparkled in childish glee when Claire tossed a bag her direction and then one in Jake's direction who looked up in shock.

"I didn't feel right leaving you out." Claire said with a shrug, answering Jake's question before he could ask.

"Thank you." Jake said, looking into the bag to spot several golden logs, he instantly recognized them as Sherry gave a squeal of delight and practically tackled Claire as she leapt from her seat onto the red headed girl.

"I love you!" Sherry screamed, laughing as Claire also joined in, trying her best to pry herself free of the young blonde.

"Oh come on, its only Twinkies, you're acting as if you haven't had one in years." Claire said with a laugh as Sherry only squeezed her tighter.

"But you know how much I love them." Sherry said with a giggle as Chris just shook his head from the door way and pushed himself off it.

"Come on Claire, it's time to go." Chris said, heading for the door as Claire pushed Sherry off her.

"Alright, I guess I'll see you two tomorrow." Claire said, hugging Sherry who squeezed her as tightly as she could and then shook Jake's hand. "It was nice getting to talk to you without having the glaring eyes of a blonde bimbo on us the whole time."

"Like wise." Jake said, walking with them all to the door, planning to leave also as he grabbed his jacket and bag of Twinkies.

"I'll see you all tomorrow then I guess, drive safe." Sherry said, waving everyone goodbye as Chris and Claire headed for the car and Jake to his bike, they all waved in return and drove off. The blonde gave a soft sigh as she closed and locked the front door, heading up to her bedroom to get a goodnights rest, she called goodnight into her father's study and, upon receiving a reply, headed straight into her bedroom and straight to bed, collapsing on the sheets as soon as she slipped into her pyjama's wondering what tomorrow would bring.

**AN: **Well, here's another lil chapter out for ya'll to sink your teeth into ;P If anyone would like to give me any ideas on what the presentation should be about for the class or the sculpture then please, let me know. It's been awhile since I did Science and even then it was the Biology side of it but I've always loved Chemistry, just can't remember much about it XD any information is welcome so please R&R and give me constructive criticism so that I may work on my flaws, thank you very much xxx

~Shakko


	5. Introductions and New Discoveries

Morning came all too soon the next day for Sherry, the sun gleaming through the blinds caused the young blonde to give a groan and sit up, stretching her arms above her head before lowering a hand to cover her mouth as she let out a yawn. The blonde looked up toward the window and squinted lightly at the sunlight glaring through, it was a strong indication that it was time to wake up on the weekends, except in the Winter time where she needed an alarm clock for the darker mornings. Sherry rubbed her eyes to help with waking up before leaving the warmth of her duvet to the coolness of her room, the change in temperature caused the blonde to give a light shiver but she endured it all the same, after all, she couldn't very well stay in bed when she was going out today with everyone.

"Sherry, are you awake?" Came her father's voice from the other side of her bedroom door.

"Yes father, I am awake." Sherry replied, moving over to her dresser to pick her outfit for the day.

"What would you like for breakfast?" William asked through the door.

"Pancakes please, it has been awhile since you last made them." Sherry answered, grabbing a baby blue t-shirt from her dresser and a pair of blue jeans to match.

"Of course, I will call you when it is ready." With that said retreating footsteps were heard from the other side of the door as Sherry went into her bathroom to do her usual morning routine of cleaning her hands, face and teeth before placing her hair in some kind of style and leaving the room to get ready. When Sherry was completely dressed she made a quick detour from her door to the cage sitting beside her computer, lightly making a squeaking noise to wake the rodent within. A nose peeked out from within the wooden hut within, peeking through all the cotton wool till a head appeared with the nose, black eyes scanning the area until it found the face of its owner.

"Honey, you coming out? You might get a little treat." Sherry asked the little rat within, the word treat caused the rodent to race from its house and go straight to the cage door, climbing upon it and looking at Sherry with it's beady black eyes. "All right misses, out you come." Sherry smiled as she opened the cage door, allowing the rodent to come out on it's own and into her hand.

"Sherry, breakfast is ready!" William called from down the stairs.

"Alright father, coming now!" Sherry called back, placing the rat on her shoulders and heading into the bathroom quickly to wash her hands again before going downstairs to the kitchen with Honey still on her shoulder.

"Good morning." William said, plating out the pancakes and handing a the plate to Sherry who took it with a small thank you and a smile.

"Good morning father." Sherry replied, sitting down at the table with her pancakes as her father brought over his own plate with maple syrup for on the pancakes should either of them decide to have it.

"Will you be going out today?" William asked as Sherry poured a small amount of maple syrup over her pancakes.

"Yes, I am heading out with Claire, Chris, Jake and Leon then we will be coming home and Piers will be joining us around tea time." Sherry answered, cutting lightly into a pancake and taking a small bite, savouring the taste of it.

"Where will you be heading?" William also cut into one of his pancakes and popped it in his mouth, eating a lot faster than Sherry who was still chewing her piece of pancake.

"The amusement park that is in town." Sherry replied when she swallowed the pancake, moving on to cut another piece along with taking off a small crumb and placing it on her shoulder for Honey who quickly gobbled it up.

"Well that will be nice, you haven't been out with Claire, Chris and Leon in quite some time." William said with a smile, glad his daughter was getting out as she usually just stayed in the house and did work or trained Honey to do different tricks.

"Mhmm, it will be nice to go out with everyone." Sherry said, taking the piece of pancake into her mouth. The pair continued to eat away at their pancakes when the doorbell suddenly rang, both Sherry and her father looked at each other, curious as to who it would be as anyone who would usually call around knew to just walk right on in; Sherry dabbed her mouth lightly with a napkin and stood up, leaving her pancakes to open the door, shocked to see the tall figure of Jake Muller at her door.

"Well, this is an unusual way to be greeted, I've been greeted by a lot of things but never a rat." Jake said, a smirk on his face as he spotted the rat on Sherry's shoulder, the black beady eyes of the rat starring up at him as her nose twitched at the unusual scent of the human before her.

"Oh, I didn't expect you to be here so early or she would have been in bed or at least in her ball." Sherry said, looking down with a blush spreading over her face as she stepped aside to let Jake in. "Please come in, we are just finishing up breakfast."

"Thank you." Jake gave a light nod and stepped into the house, taking off his jacket as Sherry held out her hand for it to hang up. "I never thought you as much of a rat person Supergirl, I was thinking more cat or dog, maybe even a bird."

"Well, I'm unusual like that." Sherry retorted playfully, reaching up to her shoulder to scratch the rodent's head softly while hanging up Jake's jacket with the other hand.

"You most certainly are, most girls run away screaming at the mere mention of a rodent anywhere near them." Jake gave a light shake of his head as he followed Sherry into the kitchen.

"Yet no matter where you live you are always a minimum of five feet away from a rodent of any kind." Sherry gave a soft smile as she grabbed the plates of finished pancakes and placed them in the dish washer.

"Too true." Jake nodded his head in greeting to William who was quietly drinking a cup of coffee. "Good morning sir."

"Good morning Jake, we don't usually expect anyone here until later. Would you like anything?" William asked, watching Jake over his cup while taking sips every so often from it.

"No thank you, I grabbed something on the way here." Jake answered, sitting down beside Sherry as she motioned him to sit.

"Alright." William continued to sip away at his coffee until finished, he stood up and walked to the dish washer with cup in hand and placed it within. "Well I'm heading to work, you two be good and have a good day." William placed a small kiss on Sherry's forehead as she leaned her head back for one as he passed, shaking Jake's hand briefly and taking his leave.

"So why are you here so early? " Sherry asked, turning her attention to Jake, Honey crawling down to her owner's lap and leaping across to inspect the new human further.

"Nothing else to do really, no other reason than that." Jake said with a shrug as he watched the rodent carefully as she made her way around on his lap and began to scale his chest, her tiny claws creeping through the t-shirt he had on and scraping the skin lightly.

"Well do you want to move into the living room and watch tv while we wait for everyone else?" Sherry asked, smiling slightly to herself as Jake's face scrunched up every so often from Honey's claws meeting his skin through the t-shirt.

"Sure, that's fine." As Jake went to stand up Honey seemed to sense they were moving and dug her claws deeply into his chest to hold on causing him to curse quietly under his breath. "I think your rat needs its nails filed down."

"She's fine, just let her up onto your shoulder before moving and she'll sit contently there." Sherry said, giggling at Jake as he sat back down and allowed Honey to climb onto his shoulder.

"I guess you have to get used to the claws huh?" Jake asked jokingly, he suddenly squirmed as the rodent snuffled in his ear, her nose diving right in and tickling it softly.

"I had quite a number of scratches from her in the beginning, your skin hardens to it though." Sherry said with a giggle when Jake pulled the face from having the nose in his ear, she knew exactly how that felt especially when the whiskers went into play.

"Don't you ever file down her nails?" Jake began to stand up again as soon as the rodent removed her nose from his ear and continued to explore his broad shoulders.

"We did once but that was because it was beginning to curl in on itself, me and father had a difficult time doing that because she kept squirming in my grasp. We were seconds from calling Chris and Claire over to help when she finally settled." Sherry said, giving a light smile as she remembered the time and all the struggling they went through trying to file the claw.

"Sounds like a difficult mission designated for a full SWAT squad." Jake said with a small upturning of the lips as they continued into the living room where Sherry veered off and grabbed a large, red ball from the corner of the room and sat beside the red head on the sofa while undoing the top.

"It's not as bad as this mission." Sherry said as she reached over to grab Honey from Jake's shoulders, the rat quickly raced under Jake's t-shirt and dug her tiny claws into his skin as she crawled around under there to avoid being caught.

"Hey, mind the claws in there you." He scolded the rat firmly, shifting every so often when the claws dug in too deep.

"Sorry." Sherry apologized with a sheepish look on her face. "Do you mind removing her from in there?"

"Are you sure I won't hurt her? What if I grab her too tightly?" Jake asked, a frown on his face as the uncertainty was clear in his voice.

"If she tightens her grip when you grab her then it means you are hurting her, other than that she should come out easy enough." Sherry said with a small giggle that Jake Muller, leader of the La Vita Nuova **(1)**, was being beaten by a small rodent.

"Stop laughing at me." Jake said with a scowl though you could see the glint in his eyes that lightened the mood as he reached under his t-shirt to grab the rat out from within, he winced lightly as the rat dug its claws into his shoulder briefly but as soon as he loosened his grip she let go long enough for him to take her out from underneath his t-shirt.

"Sorry, I find it amusing that Jake Muller, the guy who says he is built like a tank, is undone by a rat." Sherry said, still giggling as she undid the top of the ball and held it open for Jake to place the rat within, quickly shutting it to stop her from escaping and placing the ball on the ground where the rat quickly raced off to the other side of the room.

"Well that rat is crafty." Jake said, defending himself as he folded his arms and sat back against the sofa while Sherry turned on the tv and began flicking through the channels, sitting perfectly straight as she did so. "Don't you know how to relax?"

"Hmm?" Sherry turned slightly to look at Jake and then gave a shy laugh as she realised what he meant. "Sorry, I find it hard to slouch in company." She said, a shy smile replacing the laugh while Jake shook his head and grabbed the back of her top and pulled her back till she was not so straight and just slouched leaning into the back of the sofa.

"Well no need to be like that around me, relax and let yourself go around me, be yourself." Jake said, keeping his hand at her back ready to grip her top if she even thought of sitting perfectly straight again.

"Hard to be yourself around someone whom you don't know that well." Sherry said, trying to sit up again but held in place by Jake gripping the back of her top.

"Then ask me something, anything you want." Jake looked directly at Sherry, determination deep in his eyes as he watched Sherry contemplate the idea.

"So I can ask you anything I want and you will answer it truthfully?" Sherry asked, considering the idea as she turned to look at Jake, wanting to make sure he was completely certain with this idea.

"Of course, ask me anything and I'll answer it the best I can." Jake gave a light nod, his gaze never once leaving Sherry's face.

"Okay then, why did you say yes to working with me when you could very easily work with someone much smarter than me?"

"Well you seemed like the better option out of everyone in the class, and because you were easier to get along with than everyone else."

"But we had never met before, could you tell that just from looking?"

"Come on, you rarely speak out unless you and Ashley have an argument, can't blame a guy for being a little curious."

"Okay, next question. Why did you step in between myself and Ashley when in class the first day of our project?"

"It was either that or you hit her a day early for her horrible attitude."

"Well, I think that's it for questions, at least after this next one." Sherry said, a small smile as she relaxed back and lay with her back to the arm of the chair, bringing her feet out of the slippers she had them in until she needed her proper shoes and propped them beside Jake's side, giving the toes a little wiggle. "Could you massage my feet please?"

"Of course." Jake said with a chuckle, turning in the sofa to get a better angle before taking Sherry's left foot in his hands and began to massage the heel, making his way up to her toes at a slow pace so that he didn't miss a single place while Sherry gave a sigh in contentment as she closed her eyes and enjoyed the sensation; the two sat like that for the next hour talking as Jake massaged Sherry's feet while waiting on everyone else to appear for the outing.

The door was heard opening and closing as voices soon accompanied it, more than there were the other night as Sherry gave a groan and opened her eyes, having been quite comfortable as she sat up, pulling her feet out of Jake's grasp and slipping them into the slippers once again just as the living room door opened and in walked Claire, Chris and Leon.

"Hey guys." Sherry greeted them all with a smile and a light wave as Jake turned off the tv.

"Hey, how long have you two been waiting?" Claire asked, flopping down on the sofa on the other side of Jake.

"Awhile." Sherry said as Chris and Leon moved to sit on the spare seats before introducing Leon and Jake. "Leon this is Jake, Jake this is Leon."

"Hello, it's nice to see who has been making Chris so agitated recently." Leon said, reaching over from his seat to shake Jake's hand.

"What can I say, I have a gift." Jake gave a smirk but reached over to also shake Leon's hand before leaning back on the sofa.

"So where are we going?" Chris asked since they hadn't really decided where to go, though he knew that Sherry would most likely call for a vote.

"Well it has to be something we all like and we were thinking of the Amusement Park that arrived last week or the Cinema so how about a show of hands for each activity?" Sherry suggested while scanning everyone's faces to make sure they were all okay with the idea.

"Sounds like a plan, all who want the Cinema raise their hands." Claire said, watching as no one raised their hands. "Okay, all who want the Amusement Park raise their hands." At that everyone's hand shot in the air including her own. "Well that's settled then, to the Amusement Park we go."

"Alright, everyone grab their coats and I'll meet you outside, just got to make a quick call." Chris said as he got up and left the room, taking his phone out of his pocket.

"Wonder who he is calling, he has been quite quiet the whole way here." Claire said, wonder in her voice as she watched her brother leave the room.

"Who knows but I take it we are all taking the same car." Leon said, looking over at the others as he closely inspected Jake and how he seemed to be acting around Sherry, it was clear that he liked her from how he kept glancing at her from the corner of his eyes though he did hide it very well.

"Yes, it is only the five of us going." Sherry confirmed with a small nod as she sat further back in the sofa, she had relaxed quite a bit around Jake as he massaged her feet and joked around.

"I guess we should do as Chris says and get ready to leave, you know what he's like if his commands aren't followed." Leon said, placing his hands on his knees as he stood up, followed by Claire.

"You scoundrels, I gave you a direct order and you did not obey? Walk to the Amusement Park while I drive leisurely beside you." Claire said, acting Chris with a scowl and wagging her finger angrily at everyone, causing the others to laugh and follow suit on standing up.

"That's mean now Claire." Sherry said, the smile on her face saying otherwise to what she thought of the whole thing.

"Who's car are we taking then?" Jake asked, looking over at the group.

"Chris' but its mostly because he hates other people driving, he feels like he can't relax." Leon answered, leading the way into the hall and grabbing his jacket.

"Oh shoot, I forgot to put Honey back in her cage, I'll be back in a second." Sherry said, racing back into the living room to get the rodent from within her ball, the rat happily raced up her owners arm onto her shoulder and sat there while Sherry closed up the ball and put it back in it's usual place at the corner of the living room before taking the rat upstairs to her room. She smiled over at the fact Claire was cowering behind Leon and Jake when she walked out with Honey on her shoulder and laughed. "Not going to hold her today then Claire?"

"Hell no, you keep that thing away from me, what you need is a good rat trap to kill it." Claire answered, shoving the two males forward and closer to Sherry with Honey on her shoulder.

"Don't be mean Claire, she hasn't done anything to you." Sherry continued to giggle as Honey licked around the base of her neck and slowly began to move along her shoulder where she curled up to sleep, uninterested at the other people.

"Put it to bed Sherry, I swear if you bring it over to me I will scream, I mean it." Claire threatened, glaring at the blonde who only laughed and headed upstairs, trying not to disturb the rodent on the way up.

The others waited in the hall for Sherry's return and both Jake and Leon turned to raise an eyebrow at Claire, who was still glaring up the stairs in the direction Sherry went.

"So I take it you don't like Sherry's pet huh?" Jake asked with a smirk as he turned to lean against the wall, having grabbed his jacket while Sherry was in the living room.

"No, I won't go near that rodent even if my life depended on it." Claire said, shivering slightly at the thought of Honey.

"She isn't that bad, quite a little sweetheart really." Leon said, chuckling at Claire as she turned her glare on him.

"Do not defend vermin." Claire all but snarled out as she opened the front door and left the house, storming over to Chris' jeep and hopping into it while Leon only shook his head and followed the red headed female out.

"The only vermin I've ever truly met would be a brat of the spoiled variety." Jake said, following the other two out as Sherry raced down the stairs, grabbing her coat and keys from the side of the door and waiting outside for Chris to hurry up so she could lock the door.

"I agree with Jake, spoilt people are the worst kind of vermin." Sherry said, making her presence known as she stayed by the door.

"Let's not think of vermin please, why don't we just go and have fun?" A voice said from behind Sherry as she turned to see Chris walking out the front door, closing it behind him and locking the door before she followed him down to the jeep.

"Yes, agreed." Claire's voice was heard from within the jeep as Leon, Sherry and Jake climbed into the back of the jeep and Chris took his seat in the front.

Chris put the car in gear and thus began the drive to the Amusement park, all was generally quiet within the car besides a couple of questions being passed back and forth amongst the people within, most questions were directed towards Jake but when they ran out questions for him they just went to general banter. To say Jake was curious on how they all acted to each other was an understatement, it was clear that they were all very close but the one who surprised him most of all, was Sherry; this was a side of her he had never seen before, normally the shy girl wasn't this outgoing and loud around anyone, she was joining in with the jokes and banter, even openly talking about things that happened in the past that he never would have believed if he hadn't heard it come from her own mouth.

They eventually pulled up at the Amusement Park and Chris began to look for a parking space somewhere close to the entrance but not so close they would be blocked in when everyone was leaving later that night, as they were circling the area Sherry couldn't help but notice a familiar figure standing at the gate and had to squint as she didn't believe her eyes, the moment she did so however Chris had turned the jeep around and was reversing into a parking space, asking Jake to duck down slightly so he could see over his head and into the space.

"Freedom, ah it feels good to stretch my legs!" Claire cried out as she leapt from the Jeep, stretching each of her muscles and hopping lightly on the spot as she was joined by Sherry in the stretching. "Come on, let's go and get our bands."

"Yes, let's. Come on." Sherry said, linking arms with Claire as the two skipped off towards the entrance, the figure out of Sherry's head as she thought it was merely someone who looked the same.

"Women, always so full of energy." Chris said with a shy and a shake of his head as Leon and Jake merely chuckled and followed behind him.

"Are you sure we brought the right Sherry with us? I say its an impostor." Jake asked, still finding it hard to believe that such a reserved girl could be so outgoing.

"I can promise you we brought the right Sherry, she's worse when she gets candy floss in her system, pure sugar goes straight to her head and she's practically bouncing off the ceiling." Leon answered as they continued toward the front gate.

"You get used to seeing her change though, she's usually not this bouncy though so maybe she's happy that there is finally someone her age to join on the group visits now." Chris added with a shrug of his shoulders.

"I guess it would be hard being the youngest." Jake contemplated as his gaze returned to Sherry and Claire who had stopped and were currently hugging and chatting away to an older brunette female, he noticed Chris' interest spike also as his gait sped up.

"Who's the brunette?" Jake asked over to Leon quietly as Chris finally reached the group of females and was greeted with a hug and kiss from the brunette.

"That's Jill, she's Chris' main partner when he isn't training rookies. She's also his fiancée but they want to wait another couple of months before getting married." Leon answered quietly in return before raising his head to smile and shake Jill's hand briefly before he was pulled into a hug. "Jill, I didn't think you would be able to join us."

"I wanted to surprise you guys so I had Chris lie for me by saying I couldn't join you." Jill replied, raising her hand to mess the dirty blonde's hair up before turning her attention to Jake. "And you must be Jake, Claire has done nothing but talk about you and Sherry and the little project you two are working on."

"That would be me, it's nice to meet you." Jake held out his hand which Jill accepted in a shake and a smile before turning her gaze back to everyone else.

"So, are we going in there or not?" She asked, linking her arm with Sherry's free arm and all three girls headed in as one, soon followed by the boys.

Jake wasn't quite sure how the day was going to be but he couldn't help but smile at how free Sherry could be with everyone else, happily smiling and laughing when she could as the girls paid for their wrist bands and waited on the other side of the gate for the boys to get theirs.

"Come on boys, its time for the games to begin." Sherry said over to them playfully while her and Claire basically bounced on the spot in excitement.

"Hold your horses squirt, we'll come on through when we are good and ready." Chris said, shaking his head at the young blonde's comment before passing through the gate, quickly followed by Leon and Jake as they all worked to get their wrist bands on each other.

"Which ride first?" Claire asked, eyes wide with excitement.

"You go on ahead and pick, we'll follow behind." Jake replied, folding his arms, or at least, he tried to. He had no sooner begun to fold his arms when Sherry clasped one of his hands in her much smaller one and began to drag him over to one of the rides, causing him to laugh as he saw the childish shine in her blue-grey eyes that he had seen the other night with the Twinkies; he was certain of one thing though, this day was going to be eventful.

**AN: Finally another chapter out of the bag, I hope you all enjoy this ****J**

**I would also like to thank Acidika for the idea on what the project will be about and will gladly use it once I do my research and I would also like to thank CoolCat0720 for her ideas in future chapters so keep an eye out for them.**

**I also have a little thing for you here, your decision will make a change in one of the future chapters so all you have to do is pick either A, B or C and that is what will happen within the chapter J Thank you everyone and have a goodnight**

**~Shakko**


	6. To The Amusements We Go

As the group dispersed from one another they made sure to stay in pairs, Chris and Jill went off towards the slower rides arm in arm as they didn't much feel like going on something fast paced, Claire and Leon headed towards the Ghost Ride as Claire tried her best to mess up his hair do and Jake was being dragged towards the second largest roller coaster within the park. He had managed to talk her out of going on the largest one but hadn't quite got it to work on the next one, Jake was currently watching Sherry bouncing from one foot to the other as they were next in line and allowed himself to be dragged to the front of the car where they both got in and the harness came down over the top of them and clicked into place. Sherry was practically shaking with anticipation by this point but, as the cars slowly started to fill, she was beginning to have second thoughts and her face paled significantly as the time drew nearer; Jake looked over at her with a raised eyebrow as she seemed to be holding onto the harness with all her might, so much so that her knuckles were turning white.

"Hey, you okay?" He asked, watching her carefully.

"I don't think I can do this." Sherry answered quietly, eyes wide like a deer caught in headlights when the car suddenly gave a jolt and began its climb up the starting hill.

"Too late to back out now." Jake stated, continuing to watch Sherry as she chewed on her lower lip. He reached over a hand to grab a hold of one of hers, grasping it lightly until she tightened her hold on his hand. "I'm right here, you'll be fine." He whispered reassuringly, giving a small upturning of his lips in a sort of smile.

Sherry glanced over at Jake and gave a small smile to the red head in return, grasping his hand tightly before letting out an ear shattering scream as the cars began their descent down the first of many hills.

Claire was happily peeling away pieces of candyfloss while Leon ate an ice cream beside her, watching as people were moving around within a cramped eating area. A flash of red caught Leon's eye as he turned his face to see a woman with short, black hair and who looked like she was from Asian descent, she looked vaguely familiar as the blonde continued to watch her converse with a man dressed in all black. She turned her head slightly in his direction and he was greeted by eyes that looked like two pieces of jade, it made his breath catch in his throat as he had never seen such unusual eyes. The sudden intake of breath had caused Claire to turn and look at the blonde with curious eyes before following his gaze to the Asian woman, it caused her to give a light smirk and nudge the ashen blonde lightly.

"Why don't you try and get her attention?" Claire asked.

"What? What makes you think I want her attention?" Leon countered though he knew he had been caught staring at the mysterious woman.

"It's clear with the way you have been gawking at her for the past five minutes, come on, lets go say hello." Claire grabbed Leon's arm and began to drag him over as the Asian woman's companion stood up to leave, nodding goodbye to her.

"No Claire, stop!" Leon protested, digging his heels into the ground as best he could. The commotion had drawn the attention of the Asian woman who quirked an eyebrow at the pair as they neared.

"Hey, we noticed you over here sitting by yourself after your friend there left and were wondering if you wanted some company." The red head said, smiling at the Asian as the blonde lowered his head in shame at the red head's attitude, she had been trying to hook him up with people for years.

"He wasn't a friend, merely a client." The Asian stated, however, she waved her hand to two of the seats as indication that they could sit.

"Well, at least I didn't say he was a boyfriend." Claire said with a chuckle to lighten the mood, the comment caused the black haired woman to give a light twitch at the corner of her lips as if about to smile but changed her mind. "My name's Claire and the blonde beside me is Leon."

"Pleasure, my name's Ada." Jade eyes scanned over the pair with little interest, at least until they reached the blonde. It was clear he was uncomfortable about this whole situation. "What's the matter handsome?" She asked.

"Huh?" Leon looked up in surprise as the Asian spoke to him, his cerulean eyes meeting her jade ones as they seemed to stare into his soul. "Oh nothing, just haven't got anything to say."

"Hmm." Ada began to look around the amusement park while trying to think of something to say when her eyes landed on a shooting range, a light shone in her eyes as she looked back at the two. "Say, any of you two any good with a gun?"

"My line of work means I have to know how to use a gun so yes." Leon answered, eyeing the black haired Asian cautiously.

"My brother is captain of the police so he taught me to use guns for when he isn't around and believes I can't take care of myself." Claire also answered, scoffing lightly as she mentioned how Chris didn't believe she could take care of herself.

"Then how about a little competition on who can shoot the most targets within the allotted time?" Ada suggested. "It breaks this awkwardness after all.

"Sure." Claire beamed at the older woman and began to lightly tug on Leon's arm as he continued to sit perfectly still while her and Ada stood up. "Come on Leon, you are here to have fun so get up."

"I don't really think we should…" Leon said, staying perfectly still.

"What? Afraid to lose to a bunch of girls?" Ada asked, hiding a grin when he glowered at her and stood up, making his way to the shooting range while the girls followed.

Jill and Chris sat beside one another in a booth within one of the park's mini restaurants, they weren't really ones to go all out on the rides like Sherry and Claire so were quite happy making small talk. They talked mostly about work, curious to how the other was getting on with the new recruits and Chris couldn't help but let out a chuckle as he heard of the antics of his partners recruit, Rebecca.

"You should have seen her Chris, she was so sure she had pulled one up on me with the whoopee cushion, if only she knew of this little device." Jill explained with a grin, pulling out a device and holding it out for him to see.

"A remote farting machine, you two are just so childish." Chris said with a shake of his head along with another chuckle.

"Well it's always good to have fun on your breaks." Jill's grin gave way to a carefree smile as she grabbed a French fry from Chris' batch of them.

"Hey Jill…" Chris began, lowering his gaze while Jill raised her eyebrow as if to ask what was wrong, it was unlike him to lower his gaze like that. "I was wondering.. It's been a while since we both just went out on our own, like to dinner or something, are you busy next week?" He asked, raising his gaze ever so slightly to gauge her reaction. Even though they were engaged they hadn't even come close to making preparations for the wedding let alone get free time for a date in between all the planning.

"Well, I'm on duty Monday through till Friday so it would have to be the weekend." Jill answered after awhile, checking off her mental calendar everyday she had something on.

"That's no good as I'm working the weekend next week." Chris gave a light groan, leaning back in his chair. "How about the week after?"

"I might have to come in Thursday but I'll be off Monday, Tuesday and Sunday." Jill answered as she once against checked off her mental calendar for that week.

"How about Tuesday night? We can go out and get something to eat and maybe make some plans for the wedding, like set a date to begin with." Chris suggested, looking back over to Jill with his deep, chocolate, eyes.

"That sounds like a plan Captain." Jill gave a playful smile as she reached for another French fry but was quickly swatted in the hand by Chris who shook his head while a light tutting noise came from his mouth.

"Tut, tut Jill. You should know that if I can't have a spoonful of your ice cream at home you can't steal my French fries when in public." Chris scolded playfully while Jill merely rolled her eyes and stole the French fry anyway.

"Bite me." She replied, sticking her tongue out after swallowing said French fry.

"Oh, tempting." The two let out a laugh and continued to chat away about other things going on in their lives besides their jobs.

Sherry was practically jumping with excitement as her and Jake left the rollercoaster, she had ended up having a great time on the ride despite her initial fear, though it was probably because of the red head beside her. Jake on the other hand was half deaf from Sherry's screaming, even if it was out of enjoyment of the ride instead of fear.

"Let's go on something else!" Sherry exclaimed, looking up at Jake with wide, sparkling eyes and a huge grin on her face, how could he say no? With a sigh and lowering of his head Jake allowed himself to be abducted to the next ride, a Space Shot ride by the name of Down Under; the blonde was visibly bouncing on each foot as she grinned up at Jake who merely rolled his eyes and folded his arms.

"So, you gonna try and chicken out at the beginning of this one too just to be too late?" Jake asked, arching an eyebrow at the blonde who shook her head vigorously from side to side.

"Nope, I used to go on these with Chris or Leon all the time when I reached the right height, until then I was on the smaller ones." Sherry explained, dragging Jake to a pair of vacant seats side by side as soon as they were allowed in. The blonde eagerly sat in the seat and pulled down her harness, ready for it to click into place while Jake just trudged along behind, sitting in the seat and bringing his harness down also and wrapping his arms around it to keep it in place until it was clicked securely.

"So you like these huh?" Jake's steely blue eyes found their way over to Sherry, curious to how the harness would stop her small form from slipping out of the seat but knew it would be pushed in tighter.

"Yeah, next to Waltzer's and Dodgems this is my favourite ride." Sherry sat back in her seat as the attendant came around and gave all the harness' a push so close to the stomach that you could hardly breath but it was a precaution as they clicked into place; by now Sherry was giggling randomly as the hiss began, signalling that the ride was about to take off. They barely had time to hold their breath when they were shot into the air, all oxygen leaving their lungs almost immediately with the speed they went up at. The whole time Sherry was laughing as Jake merely chuckled, giving a small smile when the ride finally stopped at the top for its slow decent to the Earth again. Sherry began looking around the area below for any signs of Leon, Claire, Chris or Jill while Jake merely observed the scenery, at least until they were shot right back to the top of the ride.

Leon gave a grumble as he finally placed down the fake rifle, glaring over at the Asian who had accommodated a number of large stuffed animals from their many rounds of the shooting ranges, every single one she had won.

"Don't be such a sore loser handsome, it happens." Ada stated, smirking as she offered him one of the smaller prizes to which the Ashen blonde merely growled at and turned away.

"He's always a sore loser, you learn to either live with it or let him win from time to time." Claire stated, letting out a small laugh as Leon continued to act like a child about the situation.

Ada gave a smirk until a small jingle started to come from her pocket, she reached a hand inside and pulled out a mobile phone, flipping it open to read the text within briefly before closing it again. "Well it's been fun but I have to go on my way, try not to be so down handsome." Ada said, smirk widening when Leon merely glared at her in reply.

"Hey, maybe you could give one of us your number so we can hang out again sometime? This was fun." Claire suggested, a smile on her face.

"I don't know, I'm pretty busy as of late…" Ada began, looking between the two when she caught the downcast look on the red head and sighed, shaking her head, "fine, but only if I can kick his ass in more things." Ada finally gave in, earning a grin from Claire and another glare from Leon.

"Awesome, it will be fun to have more girls in the group." Claire said while taking out her phone and handing it over to Ada who put her own number in it. "It was nice meeting you Ada, have a nice day."

"Well it was better than sitting here bored I suppose, have a good day you two." Ada said, raising a hand to wave as she walked away.

When the Asian was out of view Leon was greeted by an elbow hitting his side, catching him off guard as he gave a groan and glared at Claire.

"Ya know, just because you lost doesn't mean you have to be ignorant to her, apologize next time we see her." Claire said, glaring at Leon.

"Whatever." Leon turned and walked back to where they had all agreed to meet up, Claire following behind. All the while one thought kept racing through his head, _'she seems very familiar…'_ but he thought nothing more of it when Jill and Chris came into view in the distance and Claire shoved past him to hug her brother.

The ride slowly hissed to a stop and began its decent, Sherry was silently laughing beside Jake as he merely chuckled, he admitted that the feeling of his lungs being unable to take in a breath had been quite exhilarating for the brief moments that it happened, it was an unusual sensation along with the dropping where it felt like he would just float away, all in all he found it much more enjoyable than the rollercoaster; the fact Sherry didn't scream his ear off either was a bonus, she mainly just laughed through it while giving the odd little scream.

As the ride finally stopped its decent the harness' gave a click to signal that they were unlocked and everyone pushed their harness up and off, Sherry stepped out of the seat with slightly shaky legs to the point where she would have fallen if Jake hadn't grabbed a hold of her hand and pulled her close when he spotted her swaying forward. The blonde looked up at Jake with wide blue-grey eyes and blushed, turning away when she realised how close he was, Jake on the other hand just continued to watch her for a moment longer before he released her, mumbling a soft sorry and headed toward the exit with her side by side. They stopped by the photo stand next to the Down Under to look at the photos taken on the ride and looked around for theirs, when Sherry spotted it she asked the attendant for a copy to have as a fridge magnet, she handed over the money and received her fridge magnet quickly before the two set off again in search of another ride.

"So, where to now? I've picked the last couple of rides so it's your turn." Sherry asked, keeping a tight grasp on the brown paper bag that held her magnet.

Jake gave a quick scan of the booths hanging around before pointing toward a basketball game. "How about that? We've been on enough rides for awhile at least so let's cool it down."

"I'm not very good at those but sure, I don't mind." Sherry followed Jake as he lead the way to the booth and paid the attendant for both himself and Sherry even though she insisted on paying for herself. The two played a couple of the games with Jake winning most of them but giving all of his prizes to Sherry until she couldn't possibly carry anything else until she spotted one of the larger prizes, a giant dog that could easily smother her under it. Jake followed her gaze and smirked, asking the attendant what it took to win the dog plush while Sherry was busy staring it, not paying any attention now to whatever Jake was doing or saying with the attendant, the plush reminded her of the old family dog that had passed away a couple years back. She was soon snapped out of her thoughts when the attendant lifted the large stuffed animal down and handed it over to Jake who promptly handed it over to Sherry, ultimately losing her under the mass.

"Having fun under there Super girl?" Jake asked with a smirk as Sherry moved the dog away as much as she could to peer around it.

"Well, it's certainly interesting." She replied with a smile, making her way over to Jake as best she could without falling and managed to wrap an arm around him could in a one armed hug, the other still filled with plushies. "Thanks Jake, you didn't have to win me that."

"Yeah, I didn't have to but I wanted to, I was curious to see if I could eventually bury you under plushies." Jake's smirk turned to a grin when Sherry shoved him with all her might using her one free arm and began to look around the place.

"Something tells me I'm going to have to hand these gifts to one of the others to carry before we can go on anything else." The blonde gave a light giggle as Jake began to scan the crowd for anyone familiar.

"How about burying that Claire girl's brother? The real life Action Man." Jake suggested earning another light hit from Sherry who laughed.

"That's mean, Chris is really nice so you shouldn't make fun of him." Sherry continued to laugh lightly but was soon interrupted by a very familiar voice.

"Well if it isn't the nerd, shouldn't you be at home doing someone else's homework?" Came the high pitched, obnoxious voice of none other than Ashley Graham.

"I'm sorry but we were having a conversation, you were unwanted and not welcome to interrupt." Sherry retorted, turning her head to look at the other blonde who stood there with her army of minions, every single one of them looked the same with short skirts that barely covered them and tops that were extremely low cut. After giving the girls a scan Sherry let out a scoff, adding a little extra to her reply. "I thought tramps were banned from Amusement Parks."

Ashley's face went bright red with fury, as did everyone else in her 'army' while Jake merely smirked, he liked this side of Sherry and it seemed that only Ashley could bring out this side to her, or maybe it was just people who challenged her.

"How dare you, just because we are better dressed than you doesn't mean you have to be jealous and insult us to make yourself seem better." Ashley replied with a glare, the two blondes meeting eye to eye as neither wanted to look away and give the other the satisfaction of winning.

"If that's the fashion these days then I'll gladly stay away from it, I want to keep my friends thanks, that look would just scare them off." Sherry hardened her gaze, the second blonde was beginning to look like she was about to give up the glare.

"What friends? Last I heard they just pitied you-" Ashley was about to continue when a fist collided with her face, plushies littered the floor at their feet as Sherry stood above Ashley, fists clenched and her glare deepened to something else completely.

"What would you know about friends? You just pay people to hang out with you, they aren't truly your friends and just use you for money." Sherry stated, watching as Ashley stood up, wiping the side of her mouth.

"It's better than pity friends Birkin!" Ashley snapped, a cut on her lip from where Sherry had punched her.

"Oh please Ashley, it's not my fault if you have to buy friends, no need to be jealous of me for having real friends." Sherry challenged, fists still clenched ready to hit Ashley again if she was provoked enough.

"Me? Jealous of you? Keep dreaming, what reason would I need to be jealous of you? You only have a handful of friends where as I have the entire school on my side." Ashley boasted, only for a scoff to be heard from the other blonde.

"Exactly how many of them have you slept with? I knew you were a tramp but even I had thought higher of you, then again I always knew your grades were too good to be true besides me doing your work for you." Sherry shook her head lightly in disbelief but kept her eyes set squarely on Ashley, "oh well, some people just can't help being spoiled bitches and used to getting their way. If you hadn't slept with those people then you wouldn't have any friends either."

"Why you little..." Ashley gave a scream of anger and raised a hand to strike Sherry only for a larger hand to come out and grasp her wrist.

"Now this is getting out of hand ladies, how about we not get thrown out of the park." Jake said, finally speaking up and alerting the others to his presence. The air immediately changed on Ashley's side and her eyes basically turned into love hearts as she noticed Jake there, this reaction caused him to release her wrist as if it had burned him.

"Oh hi Jake, I didn't know you were here." She gave a sickeningly sweet giggle and sauntered up to him. "How about you ditch this loser and come back to mine for some… fun." She whispered the last part in his ear, flicking out her tongue lightly to catch his earlobe when he pushed her away and began to help Sherry retrieve her plushies from the ground.

"No thanks, I have better places to be, see you around Ashley." Jake stood up having retrieved most of the plushies and grabbed Sherry by the arm once she had the rest of the plushies, dragging her away from the second blonde and her minions who all stood there completely speechless.

"Why does she always seem to be where I am." Sherry gave a groan and raised her head to the sky as if she actually was asking someone higher up.

"Unlucky timing?" Jake released his hold on her arm and moved his arm to rest on her shoulders, pulling the blonde lightly over to his side and holding her there. "It's okay, she'll have a nice big bruise for a couple of days from the sound of the smack you gave her."

"Oh I hope so, that perfect little face of hers deserves a mark, she'll cover it with make up for school but at home she'll always have to look at it in the mirror." Sherry got a slightly evil glint her eye which caused Jake to give an amused smirk, he really liked this side of Sherry he was seeing besides the quiet girl who often got pushed around at school and bullied. If only she were as confident against all of her bullies as she was against Ashley.

"Just don't go planning her severe bodily harm." Jake said with a chuckle, scheming Sherry was very adorable he had to admit.

"Well, one bruise is hardly severe bodily harm, if she keeps going on and on to me though she might end up with a broken nose." Sherry replied.

"Where did this hatred for each other come from anyway? Surely you didn't land eyes on one another and immediately think 'enemy' so what brought it on?" Jake asked, only to earn a shake of the head from Sherry.

"That's another story for another time, let's just get back to having fun." Sherry said with determination in her voice, ready to get the anger out of her system and get back to enjoying herself.

Jake gave a chuckle and looked over her with the mountain of plushies, how were they going to do anything with those? You couldn't take all of them on a ride.

"How about we find Action Man and his girl? Then we could leave the plushies with them and go on another couple of rides." Jake suggested, arm still around Sherry's shoulders comfortably as he mused about how tiny she was compared to him.

"Okay, do you mind taking these while I give him a call and find out where him and Jill are at, and don't call him Action Man." Sherry said with a giggle, gesturing to the plushies in her arms. Jake chuckled and took his arm off her shoulders to take the plushies from her, he was beginning to wonder where they would all go in the car, or if they would even fit in the car. Sherry grabbed her phone from her back pocket once her arms were free of plushies and started looking through her contacts, stopping once she met Chris' name and pressed call, holding hr phone to her ear.

"Hey Chris, where are you and Jill?" Sherry asked, listening to the reply as Jake managed to catch a couple of words from the gruff voice of the older man on the other side of the phone before Sherry continued, "oh we just have a couple of goodies for you two to look after; we're on our way over now, thanks Chris." With that said she hung up the phone.

"So where is Action Man?" Jake asked, watching Sherry grab some of the plushies to ease his 'burden.'

"It's Chris and him and Jill are over at the restaurant with Claire and Leon who might join us depending what we go on." Sherry answered, her arms filled with the smaller plushies that Jake had won as she began to lead the way toward the restaurant, Jake easily walking beside her as he stared at her from the corner of his eye, a smile starting to tug at his lips as she hugged the small plushies to her chest as they walked, the picture of innocence.

Leon and Claire had rejoined Chris and Jill not long before Sherry had rang, Claire happily telling the story of Leon was completely annihilated by the Asian woman, known as Ada, while Leon grumbled in the back and kept his head low.

"Well Leon, we all lose some." Chris chuckled when Claire finally stopped her story, clapping the younger man on the back that jolted him forward slightly before he straightened up again.

"It's more the fact that Claire just won't let it go…" The ashen blonde glared at the fiery red head who was still chatting away with Jill, laughing at something the other woman was saying.

"You get used to it, or at least I thought you might be used to it." Chris let out another chuckle and threw back the remains of his coffee, not caring for the slight burn it caused as it travelled down his throat.

"Hey!" A voice called from behind the group, causing them all to turn and see Sherry waving one arm at them, Jake walking alongside her, both of them with their arms filled with plushies which were unceremoniously dumped beside the group upon reaching them.

"Hey squirt, have fun?" Leon asked, chuckling when Sherry pouted at him for calling her squirt.

"Hey! I'm not that short…" Sherry defended only to have the whole group laugh at her, it wasn't an unknown fact that she was the shortest of them all, the only one closest to her size was Jill but even she was a good couple of inches taller than Sherry's 5'3 height.

"Sure you aren't." Leon grinned and playfully ruffled Sherry's hair, causing her to react and slap his hand away.

"Well yes we have had fun, but we aren't quite done yet." Sherry finally got around to answering Leon's question, fixing her hair back into whatever style it had been before.

"We are just here to dump these plushies on you guys then going to head out and find something else to go on, at least for a final ride." Jake continued from where Sherry had left off.

"Oh, going to end on the Waltzers or Dodgems?" Claire asked, perking up immediately.

"I was thinking Waltzers, what do you think Jake?" Sherry asked, looking up at the male beside her.

"You know me, I don't care." He gave a shrug and placed an arm around the short blonde's shoulders, stuffing his free hand into his pocket.

"Count me in! Leon you coming? We haven't been on any rides today." Claire jumped up out of seat and skipped around to stand beside Sherry, making a grab to drag Leon out of his chair whether he liked it or not but was disappointed when the ashen blonde stood up of his own accord.

"Would I get much of a choice?" The ashen blonde rolled his eyes but glared lightly to where Jake's arm was wrapped around Sherry's shoulders, the glare going unnoticed by everyone.

"Come on then, we'll be back soon Chris, Jill." Sherry turned around and took off at a light jog, causing Jake's arm to fall from it's post around her shoulders but wasn't allowed to drop for long when Sherry grabbed his hand as she turned and jogged off, dragging him behind her.

The group of four made their way through the slowly dispersing crowd until they finally reached the Waltzer's, the cue wasn't too long, with any luck they might get the last seat on the next ride. The group started talking amongst one another, well it was more like three of them were talking while Jake merely listened, they were mostly planning on how to get Jill and Chris to get their backsides into gear and plan the wedding but none of them had an idea; finally the ride stopped, old passengers were ushered off and new ones replaced them as they piled into carts, Sherry raced for the one nearest and threw herself into the seat, causing the cart to roll around slightly while she giggled. The other three shook their heads in disbelief at the girl and followed her, Claire and Jake on either side of her with Leon and Jake taking up the outside so that neither girl would hurt themselves against the corners.

Sherry and Claire began to chat idly while they waited for the ride to start, both guys just staring out at the wall ahead of them where a picture was set of some screenshot of an old film that neither could honestly pay much attention to or be bothered to remember as soon they would no doubt be whizzing past it multiple times as they held the bar down over their legs. Slowly the ride began to start which caused the girls chit chat to turn to giggles of excitement as the ride picked up some speed, their cart spinning with every little dip and rise it took, each girl getting louder until they were full out laughing, this laughing turned to screeches as one of the helpers on the ride stood behind their cart and gave it a huge shove around in a circle, making it spin faster than it had already that even had the guys chuckling and made the girls raise their arms in the air as they screeched; Claire's red hair had been taken out of it's ponytail before they got on the ride so her hair was whipping back and forth wildly, most covering her face while the rest swept round to hit Sherry or Leon lightly up the face depending on the way the cart spun, Sherry's hair was a different matter as it just seemed to lightly go from side to side, then again it wasn't very long but it still managed to end up slightly tousled and Jake found himself picturing it tousled up by a completely different method but quickly shook the thought from his head. The next attendant reached their cart and, again, their cart got another mighty shove but instead of continuing on he just stayed there and when the cart threatened to stop it's spin he would give it another one, earning squeals of glee from the girls who raised their arms as high as they would go, the attendant spun them around twice more before moving on to his next victim.

Finally the ride started to slow, Claire's hair was every which way and full of static, Sherry's was not much better but because it was short and already had a messy look it didn't look much different as they wobbled off the ride, their legs like jelly as they kept giggling. Leon's hair had also felt the brunt of the wind hitting it in the circles, it was sticking up in places to the regular puffy it already had, Jake was the only one who came out normal, though that probably had something to do with the fact he had a military style buzz cut.

"That was so much fun." Claire managed to giggle out, grasping her side as she was hit with a mighty stitch from laughing so much on the ride.

"Yes! We'll need to do it again the next time the park is in town!" Sherry agreed, giggling much like Claire but without the stitch as she tried to catch her breath. She turned her attention to the tall red head to her side, "did you have fun Jake?"

"Course I did Supergirl, beats sitting at home all day." He replied, giving an honest smile, it was the most fun he'd had since his mother got ill and his father started being an ass. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders when she returned his smile with one of her own, showing off pearly white teeth.

"We should head back to the car, Chris and Jill said they would wait for us there." Leon said, ever the kill joy as the girls gave a groan of disappointment.

"Meanie!" Claire called as Leon broke off from the group, taking the lead as she huffed and followed behind, arms crossed with her stitch now forgotten.

Back at the house Sherry was ordering pizza for everyone while they waited on Chris and Jill to arrive with Piers, they had went off to pick up the young recruit as they didn't want him spending money on a taxi since he couldn't drive with his ankle in such a state. She lightly drummed her fingers on the kitchen bench, swaying her hips to the music filtering in from the living room where the others were playing it while trying to pick out a DVD, she was so engrossed in telling the pizza people what everyone wanted that she didn't even notice when Jake walked into the room and was slowly eyeing her up. After hanging up the blonde continued to sway her hips, eyes closed as she danced in her kitchen, she was jolted out of her day dreaming state however when she felt a hand grasp one of hers and another hand rest on her hip as she was lead into a Waltz; Sherry opened her blue eyes in amazement only so catch the steely ones of Jake who smiled and continued to Waltz with her, right there in the kitchen.

Sherry lowered her gaze as she felt her cheeks burning, placing her head on Jake's chest to hide it from him and so she couldn't look at the smirk that was undoubtedly on his face at this very moment. A deep rumble sounded from Jake's throat as he chuckled at the blonde's reaction and spun her out, keeping a hold of her hand before pulling her back, his hand coming to rest on the small of her back.

"Didn't know you could dance Supergirl, you are so full of surprises." The red head whispered into Sherry's ear, causing her to bury her head further into his chest.

"I could say the same for you." Came the quiet reply from his chest, again another chuckle came from Jake as the music finally stopped and he released the petite blonde, just in time for the front door to open and in walked Jill, soon followed by Chris who was walking beside a guy with crutches, to keep the weight off his sprained ankle for at least a week.

"Hey guys!" Claire called from within the living room, smiling out over the top of the sofa as Piers hobbled in and set himself down beside her, letting out a sigh of relief.

"Evening." He simply said to everyone in the room, nodding at them all individually in greeting.

"So have you guys picked a movie yet?" Jill asked, hanging up her coat and Chris' before entering the living room, sitting on Chris' lap on one of the seats.

"I was thinking Wreck-It Ralph." Claire said, tapping her chin lightly with a finger as she rested her chin on the palm of her hand.

"I like that idea, could be fun." Sherry piped in from the kitchen entrance.

Everyone settled down into their own places, Sherry took up the final space on the sofa and Jake sat in front of her on the plush carpet with a pillow underneath him in case he got uncomfortable, Jill continued to sit on Chris' knee, Leon occupied the other seat and Claire and Piers were beside Sherry on the sofa; the group had waited for the pizza to arrive before starting the movie and were almost half way through it now when the pizza was finally finished, all the containers were left in the middle of the room to be taken out into the bin tomorrow. Leon managed to fall asleep not long after the pizza was finished and he was soon followed by Jill and Chris, all of them had been overworked as of late and thus didn't get much time to sleep so no one bothered to disturb them until the end of the movie.

When the movie finally finished everyone made their way out the door for home, each one hugging Sherry and wishing her a goodnight, thanking her for her company and being nice enough to basically open her house for them all to pile in and ruin it but she merely shook her head and waved off the comments knowing they would do the exact same for her. In the end it was only her and Jake as Leon waved his goodbye and drove home, Jake's motorbike was the only thing in the drive way now as he stood at the door, his helmet in hand as he looked down at Sherry.

"Thanks, for inviting me along." He started, smiling down at the blonde as she blushed.

"It was nothing, really." She replied, lowering her head and hugging one of the plushies he had won her in the park, he'd noticed her cuddling it the entire film.

"No I mean it, thanks, it was the most fun I've had in awhile." Jake insisted, his smile slowly turning to a grin as Sherry just got redder, he was sure it couldn't be right for someone to be that red but didn't say anything.

"Glad to help, the doors always open if you ever need somewhere to go, or if you want to work on the project." She said softly, her blonde bangs falling over to hide a small amount of her face beneath it.

"I'll hold you to that." Jake continued to grin, sneaking a finger under her chin to pull her face up to look at him as he lowered his face to rest a light kiss on her cheek, he lingered there for a couple of minutes until he finally pulled away, dropping his hand and heading down the steps, putting on his helmet and swinging a leg over the bike. "See you later Supergirl."

Sherry was stunned to say the least, she blinked twice when she heard the bike revving and waved to Jake as he headed out of her driveway; when he was gone she raised a hand to her cheek, ghosting it over where he had kissed her and could feel her cheeks getting warmer as she closed the door and locked it. Today really was a good day and she couldn't wait to see what tomorrow brought as she changed to her pyjama's and crawled into bed, still with the tiger plushie in her arms as she closed her eyes, falling in to an easy sleep.

**A/N: Oh my, I am so sorry it's been so long since my last update, my creative spirit took a right kick up the rear end and just stopped working half way through this chapter, even music wasn't helping me to think of anything but I thank you all for being patient and waiting, I've had some things happening in my life at the moment so updates will still be slow but I will be working on this, so don't worry but don't feel afraid if I haven't posted in ages to send me a quick message reminding me or enquiring about why it is taking so long to update. Anyhoo here is chapter 6, I hope you all enjoy it and I know there will probably be mistakes in it, when is there ever not mistakes? But I tried, I was fighting writer's block so if it's pacey then that is my excuse, I wanted to get this out as quickly as possible so I admit it has been rushed, especially near the end.**

**Also the sequence with Ashley and Sherry meeting in the park… God I wish I could have written more but in all honesty I just couldn't think of anything else to do :/ all my ideas just went out the window.**

**Well until next time, keep checking for updates my stalkers, they may be slow but they will happen, promise. ~Shakko xxx**


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